I would never buy a 1 bedroom ever again. I had a 1/1 in Houston, TX years ago and ended up giving it away (the neighborhood changed from airport workers to hookers and drug dealers). I learned my lesson the hard way - you have a hard time renting a 1 bedroom and even harder time selling one.
@Chris McClain, Hello, near where we live on the Hillsborough River is a big complex behind the Home Depot store on Bush and Florida Ave. If you Google the address and select the Zillow.com link you will see all the condos in there that have been sold and the one for sale which is a 2/2. There is also one that was Foreclosed that is 1/1 and you can get a comparison of the rents for them. Here is the link
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/302-E-Whitehall-...
If you are targeting 1/1 and 2/2 condos to rent as an investment, then, why not just buy a Motel? Or target one complex that has a few for sale? Kind of a unique idea to have all your rentals in one place, if you could Buy at big discounts and the complex was not too old and ready for a Special Assessment to replace big ticket items like the roof etc. Be selective with your Tenants...can't tell you how violent that mine have become and my neighbor, Mark, has six, paid off houses near the one I am selling in S. Tampa and he is selling all of them. We both have had S. Tampa rentals for over 30 years and we both are fed up with the Tenants. The house on the corner just rented to two young couples with kids and they came over and stole all the furniture I was storing in the carport and came back with hand cart to try and steal the new AC compressor I just installed. Then, they went across the street to Mark's house in the back as both of our houses are For Sale and empty. The other neighbors son saw them told the family in front. Mark's son is a Sheriff who lives behind my house and there is nothing we can do about these thieves. Unless there is Violence, the Police in Tampa will not even take a Report for Vandalism and will tell you that it is a Civil Case if you have a witness and the damages or loss is over $300. I don't even call the Police anymore. They have really bad attitudes and won't protect your property rights.
I would never buy a 1 bedroom ever again. I had a 1/1 in Houston, TX years ago and ended up giving it away (the neighborhood changed from airport workers to hookers and drug dealers). I learned my lesson the hard way - you have a hard time renting a 1 bedroom and even harder time selling one.
Welcome to BP.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I believe 1 bedroom in general is trouble.
@Chris McClain, Hello, near where we live on the Hillsborough River is a big complex behind the Home Depot store on Bush and Florida Ave. If you Google the address and select the Zillow.com link you will see all the condos in there that have been sold and the one for sale which is a 2/2. There is also one that was Foreclosed that is 1/1 and you can get a comparison of the rents for them. Here is the link
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/302-E-Whitehall-...
If you are targeting 1/1 and 2/2 condos to rent as an investment, then, why not just buy a Motel? Or target one complex that has a few for sale? Kind of a unique idea to have all your rentals in one place, if you could Buy at big discounts and the complex was not too old and ready for a Special Assessment to replace big ticket items like the roof etc. Be selective with your Tenants...can't tell you how violent that mine have become and my neighbor, Mark, has six, paid off houses near the one I am selling in S. Tampa and he is selling all of them. We both have had S. Tampa rentals for over 30 years and we both are fed up with the Tenants. The house on the corner just rented to two young couples with kids and they came over and stole all the furniture I was storing in the carport and came back with hand cart to try and steal the new AC compressor I just installed. Then, they went across the street to Mark's house in the back as both of our houses are For Sale and empty. The other neighbors son saw them told the family in front. Mark's son is a Sheriff who lives behind my house and there is nothing we can do about these thieves. Unless there is Violence, the Police in Tampa will not even take a Report for Vandalism and will tell you that it is a Civil Case if you have a witness and the damages or loss is over $300. I don't even call the Police anymore. They have really bad attitudes and won't protect your property rights.
@Chris McClain, Hello, I have no idea why people think that they can Invest in Rentals and have any expectation of making Money as if they were buying a Mutual Fund. The Pros will give you all the examples of how the Numbers work, but, the Numbers don't mean a damned thing in this Economy. You say that you have a lump sum to Invest in Real Estate for "the best return." Everybody is looking to make more Money than the 1% interest that you get from the Banksters. OK, so the question is if you own your own Home? The best way to make Money is with the sale of your Residence, Tax-Free after you live in it 2 years out of the last 5. Then, you can think to Buy a Rental. At this point, as a rule, I would not buy anything that I would not live in. Everybody is looking for a Deal when you Buy a property, or you are wasting your time to begin with. There is a Science to finding and buying a property for less than Retail. This is why you need to study and research and do your due diligence. You really want to try and have a built in Profit when you Buy a property. You live in Clearwater and I think that it is the best place to Invest or Farm an area where you live. You really don't want to be an Absentee Owner. I would buy a house with a lot before I would Invest in a Condo. There are reasons to try and work out a Deal with a Condo, but, I would stay away from Deed Restrictions and Condo fees. If you were buying a house to fix up, you could think about buying it as close to lot value as possible and then add on the cost of repairs and see what you end up with as a Sale Price. When you say that you have $100K to spend? Cash talks and BS walks. I could leverage that $100K to maybe buy 10 houses. Or 25 Manufactured Homes or 50 Trailers. Get the idea? Creative Financing is another Science. You want to learn how to use the least amount of Money to Buy the most amount of Value and Monthly Cash Flow. Everybody wants to learn how to make Money with their Money so that they can Create Wealth in their sleep, if they are smart enough to see the Big Picture. Managing Tenants in order to do it with Rentals is just one of the drawbacks to this route to make the monthly Cash Flow. Here are Condos in Clearwater that you find on Zillow.com
http://www.zillow.com/homes/fsbo/Clearwater-FL/con...
Here are the apartments
http://www.zillow.com/homes/fsbo/Clearwater-FL/apa...
Here are the houses
Wow. Thanks for the info. Can you suggest some reading so I can learn a little bit more about the financing? I was thinking something simple, meaning the "return" i'm looking for, is not necessarily a profit from selling the property but this would obviously be nice, but just buying one property to get rental income from. I figured a condo would be easier, because although the condo association dues would eat some of the return, I wouldn't be exposed to as many repair variables.
But it's very interesting thinking of using some financing. I have great credit, but my income is not very high, I also rent an apartment now so my DTI I doubt would support any significant financing especially with a small down payment.
Thanks again for the info.
@Michael Haynes Thank you for sharing your experience and insight about the Tampa area and investing in general. ..I just learned alot!
@Chris M. Hello from Tampa. To learn about Low and No Money Down Financing ideas, you can Google a Search online and there are links to all that online. BP has a book or a lesson also. You say your are Renting, but, you want to make income from Buying a Condo to Rent? That does not make sense to me. The first thing to do is to Buy your Home because you have good Credit and not much extra savings or income. After two years you can Sell your Residence, Tax-free up to $250K. or rent it for a few years, fix it back up and sell it before five years. With a Condo, you do not own the land. You own a parcel of the land and you are subject to all the Condo Rules and the Condo Fees which could include a Special Assessment for new Roofs, Fences, outside landscaping, paint etc. The Condo Manager is always someone who does not live there and uses the Condo Fees as a slush fund. There is no way that I want to Invest in RE and have someone over me, telling me what to do. In West Palm Beach there are areas that can tell you what color you are allowed to paint the Inside of Your Home. Forget it. The only reason to Buy Real Estate is to Make Money from Rents and the Sale of the property. Only relying on Rental income is a bad Deal. The hoped for Appreciation of the property over the long term is the way we Create Wealth in a Capitalistic Society, while we sleep. The greatest power in our world is Compound Interest. This is why we judiciously learn to use Leverage in our Buying and Selling property. You can get the basic idea from Robert Kiyosaki and Rich Dad Poor Dad if you just stick to the premise that the most important thing is Daily Cash Flow. You have to think like a small Farmer. All of his bills come due on the first of each Month. So, he has to plant and raise things that produce Monthly Income, just like Rental properties. All the rest of the Kiyosaki lessons are for people who think like Donald Trump and his Art of the Deal. I studied the Carleton Sheets course as he was from Davis Island and had the longest running infomercial 30 years ago. I have his Low and No Money Down course if you want to look at it. Everything you want to know is online, with a Google Search and just add on "youtube" to get any video lessons available.