Rental Property Investor · 34209 · Member since 2015 · 48 posts · 22 votes
Hello,
I am thinking about cashing out from my house in Los Angeles and take the proceeds to invest in condos/Houses in SE Florida (West Palm Beach to Miami area). I will have about 500K.
Interested in hearing from other investors/locals:
Hello @Ricky B. . FLorida is great. The further north you go from WPB the better your deals will be. The market here in the Palm Beaches, Boca, Lauderdale and Miami is pretty high priced right now.
Orlando and JAX offer better investment opportunities IMO. If you want to be further south Vero, Stuart, Palm City aren't bad.
I am actually looking in JAX, Cleveland and the Carolinas to get cash flowing deals.
Flips might be easier to find if you get hooked up with a good agent to find you some deals.
Regarding what to look out for:
1. Some areas are in flood zones and will require flood insurance.
2. In the Miami area you would prefer block construction with impact windows. But many homes have shutters and it's not a deal killer.
3. Location can be tricky. Here in FL you can have trailer parks right over the wall from million dollar homes.
4. If you are looking at a flip where the electricity has been off for a while check for mold. We have a high humidity environment here and it doesn't take long to start in a vacant home.
Off the top of my head that is what I can think of.
Hello @Ricky B. . FLorida is great. The further north you go from WPB the better your deals will be. The market here in the Palm Beaches, Boca, Lauderdale and Miami is pretty high priced right now.
Orlando and JAX offer better investment opportunities IMO. If you want to be further south Vero, Stuart, Palm City aren't bad.
I am actually looking in JAX, Cleveland and the Carolinas to get cash flowing deals.
Flips might be easier to find if you get hooked up with a good agent to find you some deals.
Regarding what to look out for:
1. Some areas are in flood zones and will require flood insurance.
2. In the Miami area you would prefer block construction with impact windows. But many homes have shutters and it's not a deal killer.
3. Location can be tricky. Here in FL you can have trailer parks right over the wall from million dollar homes.
4. If you are looking at a flip where the electricity has been off for a while check for mold. We have a high humidity environment here and it doesn't take long to start in a vacant home.
Off the top of my head that is what I can think of.
@Ricky B., Orlando was recently name of one of the best cities for flipping. However, SFRs in the metro area are showing strong appreciation and rental rate increases for buy-and-hold.
Little background on where I am coming from and looking forward to.
I have been AirBnb'ing a couple of studios out of my triplex in LA for past 2 years for a good cash flow. I am hoping to do the same in Florida. I picked WPB to Miami area as I would think there would be a good demand for STRs there. Plus since I will be moving there, I want to move to an area that I will enjoy living. Remember I have lived in LA for 15 years!
Having said that, i can very well live in WPB or surrounding areas but invest in the areas you recommended.
I will definitely target these areas. I may be spending a few weeks in Florida in Jan-Feb to get a lay of the land. Hopefully we can chat if you are around and have a few minutes.
@Ricky B. Have you considered vacation rentals by Disney? Disney brings in 20 million people a year to the area. Surely a few of them need a place to stay.
Hi Ricky.
I'm an investor in the Miami area. If you're looking mostly for properties to Airbnb,
Miami Beach is absolutely not allowed and Miami is in a big fight right now. I had 3 properties with Airbnb, Homeaway and VRBO. I just recently took them out of that system and rented all yearly. Fact is in Miami there's a 13% transient tax and you have to have a license. Even with that the government is not allowing it. There's also too many people doing short term so rates are low and competition is high.
Also purchase price here is off the roof!
You should check another coastal town and make sure they allow short term.
Good luck!
Thanks Orita Issartel. You are correct. If/when I move to FL, there will be a due diligence period where I will be looking at various cash flow streams for an area and see which ones make most sense. I am keeping all my options open. Glad to hear different views from contributors here on this forum!
A general concern that comes up in web search about owning a home in FL is that the cost of Home Insurance can be very high. Any thoughts on that? Thanks.
I will definitely target these areas. I may be spending a few weeks in Florida in Jan-Feb to get a lay of the land. Hopefully we can chat if you are around and have a few minutes.
Hello! Absolutely! I would be happy to chat or even give you a tour!
I am really surprised no one mentioned Tampa/Saint Petersburg? I've seen some pretty great returns, at least in my eyes.
@Bob Razler great post and very informative, what do you think about Hillsborough and Pinellas counties? Have you had any experience up here?
@Ricky Bansal home insurance is definitely something you should factor into your equation. Especially in flood zones. If you don't sit on your rehabs to long and can get them done in a timely manner, insurance costs shouldn't eat at your profits to much. Definitely shop around to find the best rates.
I have heard good things about the Tampa market. Most other markets have to be better than South Florida (on a $invested/$Rent basis). It's very expensive here. :-)
I only recommended it here because of the AIR B&B Play. This is a hot destination and I have a friend who is renting an investment via AIR B&B and he is doing well with it.
Hi @Ricky B. in regards to AirBnB in Miami Beach, while there are some challenges to legally operate an AirBnB property, it is allowed in certain areas. If you'd like a map of the approved short-term areas of Miami Beach, you can download it here: http://miamibeachfl.gov/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.asp...
South Florida is certainly a different market from anywhere else in Florida. I have a lot of experience in NE Florida and Central Florida and when I moved to Miami Beach back in December, it was quite an adjustment for me. Everything in REI here is different than what you might be used to in other areas.
I would advise to try and find a good realtor to work with and also potentially partner with, or at least "befriend" other investors in the SE Florida areas that you're interested in investing in.
Just wanted to mention that AirDNA has some really good data for airbnb investments broken down by cities for free! They also have an investors portal where you can get detailed updated reports for every city in Florida for $199/month. As Bob Razler mentioned, according to this data, the best cities for Airbnb are not big cities like Miami where home values are too high but small towns where returns are amazing due to lower investment cost.
Marty True Brilliant! That was exactly what I was looking for. I would love to connect with other investors when I am there. Hopefully there are some active REIC that I can join.