Hi all,

I've been flipping for the last few years here in Northern California, but im ready to shift some focus to long term holds. I have been looking into buying a couple SFR's around 30k-40k in the Tampa Bay Area. I am familiar with the area as I grew up there, which I feel is an advantage when investing out of state. I have never done out of state investing or long term holds so I'm definitely taking a plunge into the unknown and am a bit nervous. The properties I'm looking at are in decent areas with at least $800/mo in rents. This is an opportunity that isn't available here in California and seems almost too good to be true, but doing the analysis of numbers it's all there in black and white. I think I'm going to take the plunge.

Any advice??? Tips? Things to consider? Anyone in the house from the Tampa Bay Area with experience in this? 

I would be wary of $40k houses in Tampa Bay. You would either be looking at a minimum of $20k in rehab and a bad area or just a really bad area. 

Hi Sara-- I've been watching the Tampa area market closely and I'm looking at MLS and foreclosure properties (online) everyday. I'd be happy to pass along properties which meet your criteria. Could you be a bit more specific about what you're looking for (e.g. not sure what "decent" area means to you...)

And I think @Doug Merriott is spot-on with his advice. 

So far there have been some surprisingly clean houses.  Esthetically move in ready! The areas are also decent.  Maybe not the best, but not the 'ghetto' by any means. 

@Sarah B. 

I'd have to echo @Doug Merriott 's comment. Most of the houses, in that price range, are not in the greatest of areas and although the "ROI" seems good, I'd be happy to let you talk to a LL friend of mine who invests in those price ranges and let him tell you the wonderful stories of tenant's destroying houses, not paying rent, and moving out in the middle of the night. Just remember, the numbers are only good if you can actually collect rents.

What areas are you referring to that you're looking at that are decent, in the $40k price range and turnkey?

Hi @Sarah B.  

I would be very wary of purchasing properties in the $30-40k range from out of state, especially if the strategy is a long term buy and hold. Almost by definition, these properties will have more vacancies, more repairs and more headaches than properties in the median price ranges.

$30-40k in Tampa Bay doesn´t go very far these days, you will be in class C and D neighborhoods. Have you considered leveraging that up and getting better quality properties?

I am in Tampa and I am looking at investing outside of Tampa. From what I am seeing, I can get better deals outside of Tampa that cash flow a little better. 

I hope to find deals in Tampa, as that is where I would like to farm. 

The REOs in the area are being bid up. I tried to bid on one last week, and there were 27 other offers on it for 25k over the list price.