Investing multi family in Florida. Tampa maybe?

Question

I currently live in NJ and my wife and I are currently thinking of moving to Florida. If we move I am thinking of buying a duplex and working on a BRRR method. I have been focusing a little bit on the Tampa area which has our interest. I was looking for some advice from people who might know Florida much more than I. If Tampa isn't a good pick then which areas would you suggest in Florida. Thanks!

Andrew DeWeerd · Answer

@Paul D. Hey there - There is a bit of a forgotten or hidden niche that I’m currently capitalizing on.  Look for SFR’s with auxiliary dwelling units.  They are basically duplexes where you are Not compromising on your primary home size and space as you normally would with a duplex, I am currently doing this but I am living in the smaller unit which is a 2/2 and the primary home completely pays my mortgage and all expenses and I’m living for free.  If I did it other way around I’d have to pay about $200/mo total.  Search Zillow, etc, for mother-in-law suite, second house, guest house, etc.  Ben Laybavich calls it luxury house hacking.  I know especially in Saint Pete there seems to be a lot of places with ADU’s.  Another avenue would be to live in the main unit and use the guest unit as an Airbnb￼

Charles Carillo · Answer

@Paul D.

The Tampa market is great however there are not too many duplexes or triplexes like you find up north. These properties I do find are in less than desirable areas or in expensive areas; not great for living in or renting out.

Jesse Turner · Answer

A part of this consideration will be your budget and what you like to do in spare time. Tampa has many different areas; pockets of neighborhoods with different vibes and, of course, different price points. There are some 'cool' areas like Hyde Park and Soho. But like the others have said- very limited in the multi families offerings for house hacking. You could also check out- St. Pete, where there is a cool downtown but again, you will be pressed to find many multis. Further south, you can try Bradenton and even further you can check out Cape Coral. There are lots of multis there, however, the nightlife and arts scene are lacking, even with such potential i.e. river cutting through town, downtown and lots of gulf access neighborhoods (cape coral). Best of luck! Oh, I'm born and raised- if you like any other insights, DM me.

Stetson Miller · Answer

Hi @Paul D., Cape Coral certainly has a huge inventory of duplexes and other small multi-family properties available. There are also several other cities within the same Fort Myers area that offer the same inventory, but at several different price points to fit your budget. The area has a little bit of everything depending on the actual location you decide on. Send me a PM and I would be happy to send you a few properties to give you an idea of what the area has to offer!

Stetson Miller · Answer

@Matt Nico Definitely a bold claim to say that there's no duplexes in Florida, it's a big state! Seems like you just never found the right person to help you look, but there's a huge inventory of both older and new construction duplexes in the Fort Myers area where I am. This may not compare to other places in the US, but we definitely still have them!

Luke Skinner · Answer

So as being a local agent in Tampa and working in the surrounding areas, I can tell you there is not a short supply of duplex-quads. Turn key, value add, new construction and distressed are all here. I help investors acquire multifamily properties and there never seems to be a short supply. Now locations can vary. Depending on where you want to live and what you're looking for in a neighborhood can cost you. Due to Tampa being such a hot spot on the list of places to invest right now I can tell you that you will not find cheap deals in good locations but these deals can make a decent COC return. In your case it can help pay off your mortgage and some. If you want to BRRRR and will be using cash then you will have leverage when it comes to making an offer as cash is king. I would recommend to leverage your money and buy a value add deal and build sweat equity. In this area due to the supply and demand really anything you can do to reposition the unit(s) will bring in some strong forced appreciation. Hope this helps!

Tyler Hall · Answer

@Charles Carillo is completely correct. Tampa is a great place to live but there aren’t a ton of duplexes or triplexes available in good areas. Most of the hillsborough county (where Tampa is) is made up of either single family houses or large apartment buildings. Best of luck!

Matt Nico · Answer

@Stetson Miller, yeah I guess my choice of words wasnt the best...haha. What I mean to say is that in the central Florida area like Tampa and Orlando (Where I invest), there does not seem to be a high inventory of Duplexes - Quadplexes. The ones that I have seen are extremely overpriced. Thats just my experience.

The right thing to do is to make your own multi-family. What I do currently is find larger SFH's that I can create a split plan. I'll get permitting for an ADU, and then turn a single family home into a duplex. I'm also exploring just building a quad plex outright. In my area in particular, there are a lot of land parcels becoming available as its gentrifying, so the opportunity is there.

-Matt

Stetson Miller · Answer

@Matt Nico that seems like a great strategy! Funny, but I can't think of many houses I've seen that would come close to working with that strategy in my area, but we definitely have those standard small multi-families! Glad to see you adapting to an area and succeeding in that, that's awesome!

Tyler Hall · Answer

@Andrew DeWeerd

Great point about the in-law suites. I was having the issues with finding duplexes in the Tampa area and was doing some driving for dollars this week and found a potential property that had an in-law suite in the back. The houses last listing on Zillow marketed as a 5 bed 3 bath single family house. So if you’re doing searches for Multi family you would never find it. Have to be creative! Good luck.

Investing multi family in Florida. Tampa maybe?

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