Condo vs single family for rental investing

Member since 2020 · 2 posts · 0 votes

Hi, I’m Dawn and live in Fort Myers Florida. I’m new to investing and want to buy my first investment property. Any advice on single family vs condos?

0 Reply

20 views

Most Popular Reply

Account Closed

fort myers, FL · Member since 2020 · 14 posts · 16 votes

Adding my limited personal experience with SF rentals in Fort Myers. I put my first offer on a SFH in a non-gated public golf community. All of the paperwork, advertising, and both real estate agents said there were no ST rental restrictions. I dug deeper online and found additional covenants and restrictions that were not disclosed. Made a few phone calls to volunteer HOA board members and was fortunate enough to find out in time that the community had a clause that rentals had a one year minimum term. Some owners were breaking that clause, but I was not interested in pressing my luck. Found another property in a more desirable location with clear one-month minimums and no obfuscation.

1 Reply

See this reply in the discussion

4 Replies

Jump to latestLatest

Sort by

Nicole Holcomb
Realtor · Encinitas, CA · Member since 2020 · 125 posts · 92 votes
6y
Hello and welcome to BP, this is a great community!
Condos are often less expensive, involve less upkeep (exterior maintenance and landscaping) and are easy to rent out. This makes them attractive as investments. However condos have more monthly fees (HOA fees), rental restrictions (CC&Rs) and can be difficult to get financing on.
In general SFRs appreciate faster than condos and have less monthly fees for the investor. SFRs are more expensive and often require a larger initial investment but come with more freedom. A lot depends on your investment strategy and your goals. I flipped 2 condos successfully and made a great profit when I started out as an investor. That being said I now focus on SFRs and would only purchase another condo if the numbers were right. Most investors would choose a SFR over a condo but it is important to take into consideration the location, demand, population, and, most importantly do a investment property analysis on each target poroperty to determine potential profit.
0 Reply
Stetson MillerBusiness Member
Real Estate Broker · Fort Myers, FL · Member since 2019 · 576 posts · 423 votes
6y
Hi @Dawn Gorka,

@Nicole Holcomb covered everything perfectly regarding condo investments. To give you a little bit more insight into our condo market specifically, most of these condos being purchased by investors are going to be purchased in the $75-125,000 range. Not all of these are going to be in great locations, and most will be in areas with high crime rates and drug problems. Because of this, there's very few properties that would be suitable for investment purposes. However, there aren't many investors looking to purchase condos in the area, at the moment, so you won't have to deal with the hyper-competitive market that we're seeing now with single and small multi-family properties.
There are a few more things I would need to know to offer more insight such as:
-Were you planning on using this property as a short term rental, long term rental, or for personal vacation use?
-Do you have set goals for the numbers that you're looking for in this first purchase?
-Are you opposed to rehab, or are there any property classes that you're specifically looking for, or looking to avoid?
I would be happy to answer any more questions, just send me a message!
[email protected]850-259-2910
Stetson Miller Realtor545 Reviews
View Page
0 Reply
Nicole Heasley Beitenman
Investor · Youngstown, OH · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
You have less control if an HOA is involved. If they decide to ban rentals or force everyone to paint the houses lime green or jack up the HOA fees, you're out of luck.
0 Reply
Account Closed
fort myers, FL · Member since 2020 · 14 posts · 16 votes
6y
Adding my limited personal experience with SF rentals in Fort Myers. I put my first offer on a SFH in a non-gated public golf community. All of the paperwork, advertising, and both real estate agents said there were no ST rental restrictions. I dug deeper online and found additional covenants and restrictions that were not disclosed. Made a few phone calls to volunteer HOA board members and was fortunate enough to find out in time that the community had a clause that rentals had a one year minimum term. Some owners were breaking that clause, but I was not interested in pressing my luck. Found another property in a more desirable location with clear one-month minimums and no obfuscation.
1 Reply

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.