Hello BP friends,

Im looking at several properties in the Gainesville area but before I make a final decision, I wanted to reach out and see if there are any BP investors in this area who could recommend a specific zip code? I would prefer to buy a duplex under $75k close to UF. I would also be interested in a SFR under $30k. Ive found a couple but the area isn't the greatest. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Allen

If you are looking to attract students just check out the Later Gator routes (late night bus that takes students home from the bars). These are the areas a majority of students live in. 

http://go-rts.com/images/schedules/next-semester/l...

If you are located within walking distance of the stadium, parking revenue can be pretty hefty

Originally posted by @Allen Omar :

Hello BP friends,

Im looking at several properties in the Gainesville area but before I make a final decision, I wanted to reach out and see if there are any BP investors in this area who could recommend a specific zip code? I would prefer to buy a duplex under $75k close to UF. I would also be interested in a SFR under $30k. Ive found a couple but the area isn't the greatest. Any recommended wholesalers or realtors? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Allen

 Have lived in Gainesville and have had activity there before. Would not want to really do business there again as there are better alternatives in Florida

My main question to you is WHY????? Why Gainesville? Is there a particular reason?

Gainesville in general is an overpriced place with minimal income type of city when it comes to cash flow and long term holding. If youre speculating on land prices jumping in the future, there are better cities to look at. If you're flipping SFR, then I would understand.

@Jason Chen Hi! I'm looking into potentially investing in Gainesville as well. It sounds like you've held rentals there. Can you share what the numbers looked like for you and what your general experience was? 

I see that you're in Tampa. Aren't real estate prices there much higher? I'd imagine rent to purchase price ratio is lower which would mean less cashflow?

@jason Chen, my sister is stationed in Gainesville currently. During my visit, I was impressed with the town and saw potential. I've been looking at several other markets but get drawn to Gainesville because of the low housing prices combined with the high rental demand. I'm looking for a long term rental property. I've seen some good numbers there so I was surprised to read your advice. What markets would you recommend?

Originally posted by @Allen Omar :

@jason Chen, my sister is stationed in Gainesville currently. During my visit, I was impressed with the town and saw potential. I've been looking at several other markets but get drawn to Gainesville because of the low housing prices combined with the high rental demand. I'm looking for a long term rental property. I've seen some good numbers there so I was surprised to read your advice. What markets would you recommend?

 I look at real estate from a different lens than most people, and I believe it is an advantage that I have.

There's a small town with about 60,000 people called Ocala, about 40 miles south of Gainesville. Gainesville has been said to be like Ocala, but with a University (and a very popular and well-known one at that).

The thing is that both Gainesville and Ocala, have seen very little property appreciation over the last 4 years, which is NOT good, considering prices in Tampa have risen a huge amount. The thing about Ocala, is that you can purchase a reasonable duplex in a reasonable neighborhood in a reasonable location for $70,000 + $5,000 in renovations that will collect $625 a month in rent from both sides. This is not even an above average deal in Ocala for a multifamily duplex like that, for example. A much better deal wouldve been $55,000 + $5,000 in repairs, but those deals started to disappear in 2013 when the market began to command a higher price (but not substantially higher) for investment properties. 2 years from now, most likely those $75,000 duplex deals will still be available. The appreciation just isn't here for Ocala OR Gainesville because not only does the LAND not appreciate, but the market dictates STALE rent because supply seemingly doesn't decrease or increase.

The funny thing is that an equivalent duplex in Gainesville would run you exactly $85,000 + $5,000 in renovations (50th percentile average deal).

I always try to make sure that my deals are at least better than 80% of my competitors, so I am essentially looking for an 80th percentile deal in markets that FAVOR the investor.

The difference between Tampa and both of those cities is that the LAND in many of the more affluent parts of Tampa has appreciated a somewhat ridiculous amount over the last several years. People will pay $300,000 for a small lot in south Tampa that has a small old house on it, and bulldoze it, and spend an additional $325,000 constructing a BRAND NEW house.

A duplex in a great or even better, a PRIME location could've been purchased 15 years ago for $150,000, and is worth $500,000 MINIMUM today. How's that for a pretty solid return?

No such thing is going to happen in Gainesville or Ocala for a number of reasons. I believe those reasons include: lack of seriously big companies coming down there to employ people, mediocre night scene, lack of an urban presence, lack of water related commerce, lack of serious sports arenas, lack of water related activities such as boating where rich people buy huge yachts, etc. etc. etc. It is likely that the value of Ocala and Gainesville properties overall will only keep up with inflation, or beat it by 2-3% which is downright PITIFUL.

Go to Ocala for great cash flow properties, and Tampa for the appreciation, if you wish to stay around these central Florida towns. 

You seem young, and probably had a good time in Gainesville and could envision yourself living there. This has given you an altered and biased opinion despite the fact that if you truly took the time to run the math and evaluate the properties well, you'd see that this college town isn't really going anywhere just like it has been doing for the last 30 years when my uncle first attended UF.

One area of interest and one i have been watching for some time now is Inverness, Fl .. its about 35 mins south of Ocala .. The prices on properties are only about half way to where they were before the bubble burst, meanwhile the rents continue to rise .. its not uncommon to find Sfh at $50-80k needing $20-30k in rehab  sometimes less sometimes more .. with rents ranging from around $750 for a decent 2/2 all the way up to $1400-1500 for a nice 3/2 but the average us closer to $1000-1200 for a 3/2 around 1200-1500 sqft .. 

I seen a nice 3/2 1550 sqft w/ screened back porch and fencing along the back to protect kids from entering the water .. it was a block home .. it needed a new roof ( simple pitch ) and the ac replaced along with some general stuff like new paint and laminate or tile flooring .. its on a canal and best rehab est ..  ( at first glance ) was around $15k to get rent ready ( most $$ for roof and ac replacement .. the ask on the property was $49.5k .. it should have rented easlily for $1100 .. only reason I didn't try to convince my investing ( financing partners ) to purchase is because , We do flips right now .. not buy and holds .. but .. i hope to change that soon .. and when I do .. I cartainly will be looking in Inverness .. 

I also just seen 2 different multi family properties , one was a triplex And other was a duplex , both sold in the last 2 moths, one for $140k that was neededing nothing .. i actually pre inspected it for the buyer / investor (who is a friend of mine and started to look in that area on my recommendation ) So , she bought it for the $140 and each unit is a 2/1 thats renting out now for $600 mth .. but she plans to raise it to $650-675 on each unit as they renew later this year .. ( and she will get it ) .. 

The other one .. the duplex sold for $95k and again .. needed nothing .. both of the properties had been maintained well w/ newer roofs and ac's .. i think the 2 of the water heaters in the triplex were a bit old but in good shape still .. 

The duplex is a spacious 2/1 and was currently rented for $550 each unit .. but again .. they were a bit low for the current rental market .. each unit can be raised when lease expires or renew's to $650-$675 .. 

Only problem i forseen with that one was.. it is located right off a paved road but the road itself was not paved .. it was around 1/8 th of a mile from the paved one .. but when and if the city paves that road .. there will be road assessment fees that will need to be paid .. that one my friend passed on .. ( but who kniws how long it might be before that road gets paved .. one thing i did like was that the whole street was duplexes and there was a lit if empty lots which could be bought for cheap i imagine .. then build a couple more duplexes or even bigger multi family units .. next to the one you already own .. might have worked .. never know till you crunch the numbers .. 

And last but not least .. Inverness is supposed to be getting around 3500 new decent paying jobs starting in 2018 .. matter of fact they are putting in a pipeline though there now which has created new jobs .. 

As far as i can tell the prices on houses are only about half of what they were before the bubble burst.. and the got so low that even with that in mind ..Inverness experianced around a 18% growth on appreciation since last year .. but really .. it could only go up .. lol.. point is ,, its still going up .. 

Thats my 2 cents and  1000 words .. sorry about my punctuation .. I was never much good at constructing sentences .. Give me a hammer and nails and I can build you a house but give a a pencil and paper and i can build you a paper airplane .. lol..    

I guess it helps that I live right next to Inverness also .. 

By the way, I also like Gainesville especially if you can manage to rent to students with their parents signing the lease .. 

Let me know if i can help you in any way .. I do offer my services to go look at potential properties for out of state investors .. I can take video .. give you a unbiased opinion of the property .. And even give a pretty accurate rehab Est .. I can look at things like the roof, ac, foundation ( big thing in Fl . ) neighborhood, even give you a idea of the arv ..  

Just pm me if you require my help .. I dont want to go on about it because 

I certainly dont wat to self promote.. just offering to help .. 

either way .. I wish you the very best ...

God Speed, 

Michael Short  

Originally posted by @Michael Short :

One area of interest and one i have been watching for some time now is Inverness, Fl .. its about 35 mins south of Ocala .. The prices on properties are only about half way to where they were before the bubble burst, meanwhile the rents continue to rise .. its not uncommon to find Sfh at $50-80k needing $20-30k in rehab  sometimes less sometimes more .. with rents ranging from around $750 for a decent 2/2 all the way up to $1400-1500 for a nice 3/2 but the average us closer to $1000-1200 for a 3/2 around 1200-1500 sqft .. 

I seen a nice 3/2 1550 sqft w/ screened back porch and fencing along the back to protect kids from entering the water .. it was a block home .. it needed a new roof ( simple pitch ) and the ac replaced along with some general stuff like new paint and laminate or tile flooring .. its on a canal and best rehab est ..  ( at first glance ) was around $15k to get rent ready ( most $$ for roof and ac replacement .. the ask on the property was $49.5k .. it should have rented easlily for $1100 .. only reason I didn't try to convince my investing ( financing partners ) to purchase is because , We do flips right now .. not buy and holds .. but .. i hope to change that soon .. and when I do .. I cartainly will be looking in Inverness .. 

I also just seen 2 different multi family properties , one was a triplex And other was a duplex , both sold in the last 2 moths, one for $140k that was neededing nothing .. i actually pre inspected it for the buyer / investor (who is a friend of mine and started to look in that area on my recommendation ) So , she bought it for the $140 and each unit is a 2/1 thats renting out now for $600 mth .. but she plans to raise it to $650-675 on each unit as they renew later this year .. ( and she will get it ) .. 

The other one .. the duplex sold for $95k and again .. needed nothing .. both of the properties had been maintained well w/ newer roofs and ac's .. i think the 2 of the water heaters in the triplex were a bit old but in good shape still .. 

The duplex is a spacious 2/1 and was currently rented for $550 each unit .. but again .. they were a bit low for the current rental market .. each unit can be raised when lease expires or renew's to $650-$675 .. 

Only problem i forseen with that one was.. it is located right off a paved road but the road itself was not paved .. it was around 1/8 th of a mile from the paved one .. but when and if the city paves that road .. there will be road assessment fees that will need to be paid .. that one my friend passed on .. ( but who kniws how long it might be before that road gets paved .. one thing i did like was that the whole street was duplexes and there was a lit if empty lots which could be bought for cheap i imagine .. then build a couple more duplexes or even bigger multi family units .. next to the one you already own .. might have worked .. never know till you crunch the numbers .. 

And last but not least .. Inverness is supposed to be getting around 3500 new decent paying jobs starting in 2018 .. matter of fact they are putting in a pipeline though there now which has created new jobs .. 

As far as i can tell the prices on houses are only about half of what they were before the bubble burst.. and the got so low that even with that in mind ..Inverness experianced around a 18% growth on appreciation since last year .. but really .. it could only go up .. lol.. point is ,, its still going up .. 

Thats my 2 cents and  1000 words .. sorry about my punctuation .. I was never much good at constructing sentences .. Give me a hammer and nails and I can build you a house but give a a pencil and paper and i can build you a paper airplane .. lol..    

I guess it helps that I live right next to Inverness also .. 

By the way, I also like Gainesville especially if you can manage to rent to students with their parents signing the lease .. 

Let me know if i can help you in any way .. I do offer my services to go look at potential properties for out of state investors .. I can take video .. give you a unbiased opinion of the property .. And even give a pretty accurate rehab Est .. I can look at things like the roof, ac, foundation ( big thing in Fl . ) neighborhood, even give you a idea of the arv ..  

Just pm me if you require my help .. I dont want to go on about it because 

I certainly dont wat to self promote.. just offering to help .. 

either way .. I wish you the very best ...

God Speed, 

Michael Short  

lol  I always liked reading your posts you have a good humor. 

@Daria B. thank you .. Most of the time I try to be funny or ironic but something's it just happeneds and if you talk to my wife or family the worst thing you can do is laugh at my jokes .. they say it only encourages me .. 

I can be a very serious guy but most of the time .. I feel life it to short ( no pun intended ) to not have domed humor .. thank you for seeing it .. 

your must be as sick and twisted as me .. hehehe 

Always wishing everyone the very best .. 

God Speed, 

Michael  

@ Michael Short, it seems that Inverness only has a population of 3,000 people. Even if that doubles, I would still be nervous about investing in such a small town. Is my data wrong? How are rents so high with such a small population?

Originally posted by @Allen Omar :

@Brian Oen ,

Can you provide me your number and a good time to talk?

 As a general rule, I dont invest in tiny areas, but the thing is that places like Inverness, Belleview, and Wildwood are small little towns surrounding Ocala, the larger town of 60,000 people.

Glad to see that people in Florida are still happy to throw money down the drain buying a $95,000 duplex when they could buy one in Ocala for $70-75,000. If for any reason, this would be why investing in these kinds of places might actually be worth it. Literally just take the buyers to the cleaners.

Any opinions on Leesburg?  I live in Colorado but I have a SF home I am going to sell in Winter Garden and I'm thinking about MF properties.   A guy on Facebook mentioned he had a MF property in Leesburg for sale.

@Jake Gove You have to be careful with MF properties in Leesburg. Most of the smaller duplexes and 6-15 unit deals are in what I would call "C" markets. Property management would be a nightmare. There are larger MF properties in the area that are B type properties. I don't have much experience with those, and they hardly are ever up for sale. 

Let me know if you have any details on the property you had in mind. I can do some leg work for you if you would like.

@Jason Chen . I would love for you to point out a "reasonable duplex in Ocala for a reasonable 70K (plus 5K in repairs) which rents at $625 a side in a reasonable location"  (thats not in a war zone and has a bunch of deferred cap-ex). I have doubts that they are a dime a dozen like you make it sound.

On another note:

"I always try to make sure that my deals are at least better than 80% of my competitors, so I am essentially looking for an 80th percentile deal in markets that FAVOR the investor."

What does that even mean? Please educate us.

Originally posted by @Jay Patel :

@Jason Chen. I would love for you to point out a "reasonable duplex in Ocala for a reasonable 70K (plus 5K in repairs) which rents at $625 a side in a reasonable location"  (thats not in a war zone and has a bunch of deferred cap-ex). I have doubts that they are a dime a dozen like you make it sound.

On another note:

"I always try to make sure that my deals are at least better than 80% of my competitors, so I am essentially looking for an 80th percentile deal in markets that FAVOR the investor."

What does that even mean? Please educate us.

 Sure, my family owns like 5-6 duplexes in Ocala that were purchased for $42,000-$55,000 and each required anywhere from $5,000-$8,000 in renovations. I can show you screenshots off the marion county property appraiser if you want, and edit out some details. 

Now these were all purchased in late 2011- 2015. Even then, there are still $70,000 duplexes for sale, and $130,000 quadplexes for sale in Ocala RIGHT now that you can find online that are not in war zones, but I'd say those are in less than stellar zones. We only purchase one in a mediocre area if the deal is that good.

To prove that these neighborhoods aren't in a war zone, you can see how they were purchased for prices like $100,000+ in 2004-2006. A war zone property wouldn't been able to sell for that much in Ocala. In fact, there aren't any real war zone areas in Ocala except for like 2 or 3 streets max, and even then, they aren't even really war zones.

I really think the banks just goofed and undervalued these properties when they listed them for sale because the appraiser saw "a couple of black dudes passing by in an old car". Seriously.

@Jason Chen do you mind sharing a zillow link to one of these 70k duplexes? 

Originally posted by @Jay Patel :

@Jason Chen do you mind sharing a zillow link to one of these 70k duplexes? 

 WHOA

I found a 4plex with 2 bed/2bath in each unit listed for $79,000!!!

https://www.coldwellbanker.com/property/2920-SE-53RD-CT-OCALA-FL-34480/19130514/detail

The particular location is reasonable, and acceptable with me. It's not prime, but it's good enough. It's under pending now, but I'm not sure what the buyer offered and how much it cost to renovate. Judging by the pictures, let's say $40,000 total (for new kitchens, a new roof, A/C, labor, etc), which is not that bad at all. Assuming the total of everything is $120,000 - $130,000, I'd say this buyer will be getting a deal that is better than 65-75% of comparable deals in Ocala which is a little better than marginal, and therefore doable in my book.

Now for all we know, there might have been a small bidding war (bidding wars are pretty much never big in Ocala, only small), and the property has a $85,000 - $90,000 offer on it, but I doubt it.

Deals like this pop up about 5-6 times a year on the MLS market (rough estimate off my head), and usually a crazy good deal (better than 90% of comparable deals) pop up once a year on the public MLS market.

There are some real war zones in Ocala - like the Shores, Marion Oaks, or the Forest to name a few - well known for crime and drugs.  I buy in some marginal areas for rentals, but my criteria is whether or not I am safe going to the property after dark.  I had looked at some places for sale in the area you put the link to near Maricamp, and passed on them for a buy and hold (and was warned by locals to stay away from that area).

I have held quite a few properties over the years in Gainesville and you need to understand the environment and market. Tons of moving parts that can be a huge advantage or pitfall. I'm relatively new to BP but feel free to contact me with more questions.

1. Taxes - Taxes, did I say taxes. Alachua county has one of the highest milage rates in the state. Remember, with very few private companies and no tourism, the county has to generate revenue somehow.

2. Landlord permits - Yes, these are very real and expensive. They have now gone up to $75 per unit and they want you to register with the county.

3. Competition in the student housing market from the big guys. Several new options under construction at pretty low price points because the are several floors. Needs to be watched.

Yes, you can say this about many markets but be very careful in the multi space. The sweet spot for buy and holds is to target those who want to live in a college town and not be near the campus. There are several "failure to launch" individuals in Gainesville that will never buy a home but are very satisfied to live in a one bedroom apartment for years. That's the vertical that you need to target.

Just my advice but feel free to contact me. Thanks!

@eric Anderson thanks for the advice. Didn't know about the permits so that's good info 

Hi folks, its an older post and originally asked about Gainsville and Ocala. How about the other direction from Ocala, anyone have any feedback on Beverly Hills Fl. for single familys?

Loyd

Beverly Hills is an area that is mostly retirees and little to no economic engine for people to move there. There are deals there but focus on cash flow and not future appreciation. You will also notice quite a few 2 bedroom retirement homes with a garage. Some opportunity there but that area has never recovered from the collapse in 2008. Take care. 

Just seeing this thread for the first time refreshed from the new replies.

I know you all are talking rural areas with proximity to Ocala, but if you come a bit further south you can get in close proximity to Orlando's toll loop soon. I own my home in Apopka purchased in 2009 near the low point of the market. I'm getting my finances in line to invest, but have literally watched the Orlando urban sprawl consume Apopka and spread northwest. Google search "Wekiva Parkway". The 429 toll road already allows Apopka easy access to Orlando via the turnpike, 408, and 528 as well as connecting to I4 west. They are partially complete with and working on a northern extension that will extend to SR 46 and then west to I4 at 417. It will complete a full loop around orlando.  There will be a leg that splits off and directs towards mount dora.  This puts rural towns like Mount Dora, Umatilla, Eustis, etc all within commute of major areas with real estate prices triple the price.  I feel the growth will continue that way for quite some time