Let's talk about the Clearwater Florida / New Port Richey area

[James Wise]

We are looking to expand our operations into the Clearwater / New Port Richey area of Florida by the end of the year and are planning on opening a brokerage down there within the next 12-18 months. Prior to opening the brokerage and offering our set of services we need to work out the kinks, become experts in the market and essentially prove out the concept. 

Here is the rub, other than some preliminary research we don't know much about that market. We chose it because one of our team members is moving down there and well let's face it, it's friggin cold in Cleveland so why wouldn't we spend some winters in the sunshine state!

So I would like to reach out to those doing business down there.

• Are the municipalities pretty landlord friendly? 
• I wrote The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods. Is there anything similar to this for the Clearwater / New Port Richey area?
• How about multi family inventory? From what I have gathered thus far available properties seem to be pretty sparse. What CAP rates can I expect to see A, B & C class assets trading at?
• Any areas to stay away from?
• Up and coming areas?