Tampa Bay Bound
Investor · Prescott Valley AZ · Member since 2016 · 20 posts · 11 votes
Tampa Bay Bound
Most Popular Reply
Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2016 · 679 posts · 288 votes
9y@ED Marchand, Hello, I have lived around Tampa for more than 30 years. I used to work on ships, so I paid a lot of attention to weather and zones of climate. One of the reasons I chose Tampa was because it is just North of the Tropic of Cancer and my Union Hall was here. If you look at an Equator map you will see that the two best zones to live in around the Earth are the areas at about 23 degrees North or South of the Equator. These are the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. This is where you have all the green zones and the food and water and beaches. Tampa has similar winters to where I have properties in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio has the same amount of cloudless days, 320, as Natal in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil except we are on the Coast with the Mata Atlantica and the range of mountains that runs North along the coast. Natal is in the desert northern area. In Tampa we have had 90 degree weather into November and gone to the beach on Christmas. Usually we get three months of winter, with three weeks of rainy days and cold. Since I have lived around Tampa, the Freeze Zone had dropped down twice, killing the majority of citrus fruits north of Tampa which is where that zone has stopped moving South. There are usually a few freezes that scare all the strawberry and citrus farmers during the Winter season, but, it never really goes below 32 degrees for more than a few hours. The farmers turn on their sprinklers at those times to put a coating of ice on the fruits to try and protect them. I live on the Hillsborough river and just picked some really good Manzana bananas off of my trees. If I could I would fill our big yard with tropical fruit trees, but, that is best done down by Miami. The cold winds can kill most of the tropical plants around this Latitude. In order to see a patch of real ice on the streets around Hillsborough County is almost impossible. One of the reasons I would not even consider moving North of Tampa is because I grew up in California and I hate cold weather. The West Coast of Florida is the extremely humid and unbearably hot side of Florida for about nine months of the year. I used to surf and I would have rather lived in the Fort Pierce area with metal detecting on the Gold Coast beaches, but, for the hurricanes. The winds blow more on the East Coast and make for waves to surf and bearable heat. For my Buy and Hold rental property portfolio I chose Tampa because we have only had one direct hit in 1921 and there weren't a lot of people living here then. We do have lots of Flood Zones, but, the only way we could really have catasrophic flooding is with the hurricane that comes up through the Yucatan Channel, heading straight across the Gulf of Mexico for Tampa Bay and comes up the ten mile long Bay when we are having High Tide. Everyone is building here with seemingly, no concern for this possible event. No one worries about the cold spells that last for a day or so, except the farmers. The thing you want as a RE investor is a shortage of good housing and a big demand for them. The way they are building here in Tampa, there will be a saturation point and a fall in Market values to watch out for. We just sold a property, near downtown Tampa with two old farm houses on it, sight unseen, for $330K. We pocketed $110K profit with a ten year hold and got completely out of Debt, again. Enjoy it while it lasts.
31 Replies
- 9yJulie MarquezPro MemberInvestor · Skagit County, WA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 807 votes
Welcome to Bigger Pockets! Where are you moving from and how familiar are you with Tampa area?
- Real Estate Professional · Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2016 · 18 posts · 1 vote9y
@Jen Bastian Welcome to BP. I have an office in Tampa and can have someone give you an idea on areas that could be suitable if that would help. Just drop me a pm. Mark
- Real Estate Agent · Clearwater, FL · Member since 2016 · 298 posts · 53 votes9y
Hi Jenny! Welcome to BP and the Tampa Bay area! I am an investment real estate agent in the Tampa Bay area and the most sought after area are Seminole Heights, near Old Northeast in St. Pete and easily the number one sought after area in my experience is South Tampa. My guys have sold houses in South Tampa in less than an hour after we got the house so definitely focus on that if you can.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to message me or contact me however! Hope that helped.
- Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes9y
Welcome aboard @Jen Bastian
Good luck to you & I'll see you around the site.
- Investor · Prescott Valley AZ · Member since 2016 · 20 posts · 11 votes9y
Thank you all for the warm welcome! Please pardon my delayed response, I am about 10-13 hours ahead here in Australia :). @Julie Marquez thanks! We're moving from Brisbane and have only been to the east coast of Florida (Fort Lauderdale). I've done tons of research over the last several months but know that often it's more the "feel" of a neighborhood that matters and one street can be quite different from the next!
- Real Estate Professional · Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2016 · 18 posts · 1 vote9yJenny Bastian I live in Fort Lauderdale and if you need any help there as well I would be happy to
- Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 780 votes9y
What type of properties are you looking for? What price range?
- Real Estate Broker · Naples, FL · Member since 2013 · 9k+ posts · 6k+ votes9y
Contact @Jeff Copeland. You will find him to be honest and knowledgeable.
- 9yJeff CopelandBusiness MemberReal Estate Broker · Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
G'Day @Jen Bastian!
What brings you to Florida from down under?
Happy to help any way I can. Depending on your price range and other requirements, there are some areas that are a little less picked over than those mentioned above. Let's grab a cup of coffee when you get here.
Thanks @John Thedford for the mention!
Copeland Morgan LLC4.770 Reviews - Real Estate Broker · Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 7 votes9y
First, DO NOT buy any real state for you to live ..... RENT! Why? ... This is a new location/market for you and you should be very sure that this is the area of Florida that you want to settle ... to purchase is easy, to sell take time! So be sure that the 'Tampa Bay' is what you want; by the way it's call BAY because it's located in a BAY and it includes the Saint-Pete area) ... and remember than the winters at this location can get very cold!
I advise anyone that is moving to new areas of any State, to first RENT, experience the location and neighborhoods just to be sure that it is for you (I lived in TAMPA for several years when I first moved to Florida, but now I'm in Broward County!). RENT, and explore other near-by cities including Orlando!
Better safe than .. you know ! Good luck and welcome to the very-sunny Florida!
- Investor · Prescott Valley AZ · Member since 2016 · 20 posts · 11 votes9y
@Account Closed for the recommendation!
- Investor · Prescott Valley AZ · Member since 2016 · 20 posts · 11 votes9y
Thanks for your reply @Account Closed ! We've lived all over so completely agree with checking out the area first and will likely rent for at least a few months while exploring. Cheers!
- Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 780 votes9y
Jenny do you want a property you can fix up or one that is move in ready?
- Rental Property Investor · Oldsmar, FL · Member since 2014 · 238 posts · 61 votes9y
@Account Closed what do you think about the idea of Lease Option To Buy? Rent in a great area and if you want to buy the home you can. If this sounds interesting contact me and I can give you the full details. I think it is a great idea for people relocating.
- Real Estate Broker · Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 7 votes9y
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_the_Tampa...
For me, the winters I spent in TAMPA were not ideal. The last winter I spent in Tampa, after a-sprinkle of rain, when the ground was at below freezing (I used to wear a leather-bomber jacket) caused the surface of the roads to became a 'sheet-of-ice' my vehicle was hit by another vehicle. But, at the same time, there were winters that were 'cold' (bellow 50 degreed F) that were tolerable. Go the site given and read-up on the Tampa Bay are climate.
Regarding a lease-option, be very careful what the contract states..... because many options state that if 'not exercised, the down pay could be in jeopardy'. Get the shortest lease you can possibly get.... you are 'experimenting'. Buy later!
- Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2016 · 679 posts · 288 votes9y
@ED Marchand, Hello, I have lived around Tampa for more than 30 years. I used to work on ships, so I paid a lot of attention to weather and zones of climate. One of the reasons I chose Tampa was because it is just North of the Tropic of Cancer and my Union Hall was here. If you look at an Equator map you will see that the two best zones to live in around the Earth are the areas at about 23 degrees North or South of the Equator. These are the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. This is where you have all the green zones and the food and water and beaches. Tampa has similar winters to where I have properties in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio has the same amount of cloudless days, 320, as Natal in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil except we are on the Coast with the Mata Atlantica and the range of mountains that runs North along the coast. Natal is in the desert northern area. In Tampa we have had 90 degree weather into November and gone to the beach on Christmas. Usually we get three months of winter, with three weeks of rainy days and cold. Since I have lived around Tampa, the Freeze Zone had dropped down twice, killing the majority of citrus fruits north of Tampa which is where that zone has stopped moving South. There are usually a few freezes that scare all the strawberry and citrus farmers during the Winter season, but, it never really goes below 32 degrees for more than a few hours. The farmers turn on their sprinklers at those times to put a coating of ice on the fruits to try and protect them. I live on the Hillsborough river and just picked some really good Manzana bananas off of my trees. If I could I would fill our big yard with tropical fruit trees, but, that is best done down by Miami. The cold winds can kill most of the tropical plants around this Latitude. In order to see a patch of real ice on the streets around Hillsborough County is almost impossible. One of the reasons I would not even consider moving North of Tampa is because I grew up in California and I hate cold weather. The West Coast of Florida is the extremely humid and unbearably hot side of Florida for about nine months of the year. I used to surf and I would have rather lived in the Fort Pierce area with metal detecting on the Gold Coast beaches, but, for the hurricanes. The winds blow more on the East Coast and make for waves to surf and bearable heat. For my Buy and Hold rental property portfolio I chose Tampa because we have only had one direct hit in 1921 and there weren't a lot of people living here then. We do have lots of Flood Zones, but, the only way we could really have catasrophic flooding is with the hurricane that comes up through the Yucatan Channel, heading straight across the Gulf of Mexico for Tampa Bay and comes up the ten mile long Bay when we are having High Tide. Everyone is building here with seemingly, no concern for this possible event. No one worries about the cold spells that last for a day or so, except the farmers. The thing you want as a RE investor is a shortage of good housing and a big demand for them. The way they are building here in Tampa, there will be a saturation point and a fall in Market values to watch out for. We just sold a property, near downtown Tampa with two old farm houses on it, sight unseen, for $330K. We pocketed $110K profit with a ten year hold and got completely out of Debt, again. Enjoy it while it lasts.
- Investor · Prescott Valley AZ · Member since 2016 · 20 posts · 11 votes9y
@Account Closed Thank you for sharing such valuable insights. I do worry about the humidity on the west coast but we generally don't stay anywhere for more than 2 years so we'll survive. Perhaps if the market is right we'll flip one and hold it as a rental before we go. I have heard about the saturation as well - same is happening here in Brisbane with apartments. Major oversupply. Are there any other areas in Florida you'd recommend for flipping? I've seen Ocala at the top of many flipping lists but haven't a clue what the area is like.
- Investor · Ocala, FL · Member since 2016 · 299 posts · 110 votes9y
@Jen Bastian I live in Ocala (since I moved from Tampa in 2003) and it's the Horse Capital of the World, so lots of horse farms, riding trails and horse shows (HITS - Hunters In The Sun, big $$ jumpers in town for about 3 months). Real estate prices and property taxes are pretty low - check out Facebook page Houses and Apartments for Rent in Ocala to get an idea of what's available and the rental prices. There is also The Villages (huge high dollar senior area) and Top of The World (not as expensive senior area). Ocala is also just south of Gainesville which has the University of Florida and is close enough for their students to live in Ocala and also in Levy county (less expensive than Marion County). There are lots of golf courses, lakes and rivers (kayaks, fishing) as well as the Ocala National Forest (not a good area to own for rentals in my opinion). We are about an hour to the Gulf of Mexico, two hours from Daytona (Biketoberfest going on now, so lots of motorcycles around), 80 miles to Disney/Orlando and an hour and a half to Tampa. Lots of homes are still on wells and septic tanks unless you are downtown. The major change for me was driving longer to get anywhere (it's a large rural county) but there's not a lot of traffic. Construction is going on everywhere and we just got a new FedEx hub. If you are thinking of moving here, get a room and check out the county for a week or so, but not during HITS season (starts Nov. for practice, but show is Jan. and Feb. and rooms and restaurants are full). Florida has no state income tax and sales tax runs 6 - 7%.
- Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2016 · 679 posts · 288 votes9y
@Jenny Bastian, Hello, if you are moving from Brisbane, then heat and humidity should not be a problem. I was in Perth more than forty years ago and sometimes I think I should have stayed. If I had only bought a property on the river...anyway. I was just talking with my new helper about starting a business in the US. I told him that I have attended a lot of seminars on Home Based Businesses and that some of them warn you that the Tax considerations should not be the main reason to start a business. I always saw that as total stupidity. You said that you would move to Tampa to be near family and stay for two years. Perfect! You need a Home. So, do what I am going to do for my business plan and find a discounted property that you could fix up and live in. Two years from now, you can sell it tax-free with the Sale of your Residence tax rule. The second house can be your Flipper. Again do your due diligence and find a Distressed or in need of TLC house where the rents will pay all the costs. Usually, houses do not support themselves as rentals if you have to buy them Retail. Where I have a 3/1.5 house for sale near the AFBase, there is an agent who has been farming all the houses he can acquire for the right price and fixing them up to Flip. Last year he offered me $117K for my house that was rented for $1000 a month, when I was asking $140K. He was the only Buyer, in thirty years, who was organized enough to send me an email with a full contract offer, in writing. He has two houses that he just rehabbed and put up for sale, next to mine. Recently, he upped his offer to $120K. My price is now up to $160K as the prices for tear down houses on the East side of the Dale Mabry Hwy have exploded. I just installed Central AC and will finish the repairs this week to sell the house without any other major upgrades. This house is a ten year Buy and Hold that I think I can make $30K profit with this sale. If you are going to do Flips for income, you can also use the 1031 Exchange tax rule to defer the tax on the sale and use any profit to pay for the next flipper house. If you are going to live in Tampa, I can't see how you would do a rehab project in Orlando or anywhere else except close to where you live without major expense and a lot of problems. Right now, since the 2008 Economic Collapse that we suffered, my rule is to do, "one at a time" as I find them. The last thing I want now, are more Tenants or a big rehab project.
- Homeowner · Tampa, FL · Member since 2016 · 358 posts · 65 votes9yTampa's winter is cold:-) LOL.
- Investor · Prescott Valley AZ · Member since 2016 · 20 posts · 11 votes9y
@Marelyn Valdes thanks for the detailed info on Ocala! I did look into the area initially as it seems like an awesome value and has been mentioned in a few different articles as a great spot for flipping (even #1 in the US according to some!).
@Michael Haynes Completely agree on the importance of tax considerations - Corporations are an enormous loophole! #payyourselffirst. I've read a couple of the BP ebooks and believe one listed the S Corp as a good entity for flippers - thoughts on that? We've considered holding for 2 years to take advantage of the tax-free primary residence rule but would also like to have the capital from our first sale to form the s-corp and get into that 15% bracket! And 1031 all the way, one of the biggest benefits of RE investing. It sounds like the Tampa area can be pretty competitive and our focus will be finding those distressed homes, ideally before they even hit the MLS.
- Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2016 · 679 posts · 288 votes9y
@Jenny Bastian, Hello, the idea of starting a company for Flips and forming an LLC is beyond me because I am just a one man show and my future plan is not to expand and accumulate. Do you watch the Flipper shows on TV? Flip and Flop, Flipping Las Vegas and some of the fancy Sales agents shows in NY and LA? There are your big positive and negative pictures of what is involved and what your best and worst case scenarios would be in that type of business. In Brazil we consider Construction and Building houses to be the most complicated and worst type of Business because of all the micro-management problems and theft. Think...do you have a delivery of sheetrock on the driveway and leave it overnight? I live in Seminole Heights and just down the street they put in a new Central AC between the two houses and the people sleeping next to it did not hear the guys who cut the lines and stole the Compressor. My AC guy told me that they come by the first night and drill a pin hole in the low pressure line to leak out the refrigerant slowly. Then, the next night they come by with a crew and cut the lines and haul the new unit away. Are you going to do a Flip in a bad neighborhood and not leave a guy sleeping there to watch your project? Do you set up a Nevada Corp. to Flip houses in Florida because it is better there? Are you able to do Flips in multiple cities with the Team that you would try to acquire? All the Contractors and Trades guys are busy for months. Can you find one guy who is licensed to do it all or has contacts that can be in your Team? Doing just one Flip at a time does not say that you will actually have a Team and be able to keep them busy. Its a nice idea, but, it is a Business and you have to have Cash and Time and Credit and Energy to do that work. It's like my farm in Brazil. I don't want to be the Farmer. I want to be the Gentleman Farmer and rent the guy with the tractor and pay the daily hands to do the work, but, I have to be there and manage the situation. That is why I don't think that a small guy can Buy and Hold houses for any reason, out of State and make any money. Houses don't take care of themselves.
- Real Estate Agent · Tampa, FL · Member since 2016 · 11 posts · 6 votes9y
Hey Jenny,
Welcome to Tampa and BP! Would love to connect with you and answer any questions that you may have about this market for flipping homes.
- Investor · Ocala, FL · Member since 2016 · 299 posts · 110 votes9y
@Jen Bastian This is an excellent article on taxes and flipping. This is why I prefer to buy and rent over a quick flip. https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/07/10/paying-taxes-fix-flip-properties/
- 9yDave FosterBusiness MemberQualified Intermediary for 1031 Exchanges · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2013 · 9k+ posts · 9k+ votes
@Jen Bastian, @Marelyn Valdes is giving you some good advice. You are a new investor and will quickly find that the thrill of the adrenaline rush of fix n flip quickly becomes just another job and Tampa Bay, like all other markets has investors all looking for the same great value add properties. So the quick turns for massive profits are becoming more difficult to find.
I'm loving the weather analysis you're getting in this thread. Yes, Tampa/St. Pete can be cold. We've actually resorted to back yard fires a few times because the smore chocolate was too hard. And the hurricanes - don't forget the hurricanes. Twice this year I had to stand deck chairs back up from the devastating effects :)
Cmon down - You'll love it!
The 1031 Investor5137 Reviews
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