Rental Property #7 - Melbourne, FL

Rental Property #7 - Melbourne, FL

Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2015 · 353 posts · 269 votes

Just closed on our 7th rental on 2-14-2020. The property is in Melbourne, FL. For the last year, I was having a hard time justifying market prices in our area and how thin the margins would be on properties I was analyzing. In January, I stumbled upon a For Sale by Owner in Melbourne, FL that was listed at $99K. This really caught my eye because its really rare to find properties in Central Florida under $130-150K that aren't in a terrible area or really bad shape. However, this property was in surprisingly good shape, with not much work needed other than an inside paint job. We offered $95K and the seller accepted. I was planning to list for $1200, so we were well above the 1% rule, which has worked well for us in the past. However, when I called the Brevard County Housing authority, they told me they would approve my rent for section 8 at closer to $1400! On top of this good news, I found a local credit union through a friend that offered us a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at a very low interest rate, 3.75%! When I ran my initial numbers to evaluate the deal, I ran them conservatively at 6%. So, this low rate approval was awesome news! In then end, we are listing our new property at $1375; and after setting aside 5% for vacancy, 5% repairs, $150 capex, and paying PITI, we will cash flow about $450 per month on this property. Over a year's time, that is above 15% cash on cash on our capital invested.

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Real Estate Agent · Satellite Beach, FL · Member since 2014 · 66 posts · 42 votes
6y

@Kerry Baird Hello Kerry. I have not used portfolio lenders. Both my wife and I were in the military (she still is), so we were each able to qualify for 10 financed properties/conventional loans using various lenders (Dyer Mortgage Broker, SunTrust now Truist, etc). We also paid off a lot of properties from cash flow, or others that we had just purchased cash from savings. So we got about 10+ HELOCs and HE Loans for 10+ other properties. We used GTE Financial (limit 1 product per person, so each of us had 1 HELOC/1 HE Loan), each of us have 3-4 Space Coast Credit Union HELOCs, and we each have a NFCU HELOC (which has higher interest, don't recommend very much). Last year I had a few more properties I owned free and clear but getting HELOCs was getting tougher due to DTI limits, but we found a workaround when we did a commercial loan. I bought a portfolio of 4 duplexes + half duplex, and then used the equity of 2 properties I owned free and clear as collateral. This allowed me to basically cash-out refi 2 more properties at I believe 80% LTV, using that equity to cover the downpayment requirement of the commercial loan. So I was able to take down the package deal without any money down, just a few closing costs. I still have a few more properties free and clear, will likely tap into their equity same way again in the future by moving to an LLC as part of a commercial deal/commercial financing. The bank I used for the portfolio loan with collateral is CoreVest Financial. If you know of a good portfolio lender, let me know. I was just talking to CenterState Bank which has good rates, but their DTI requirements for Portfolio loans is even more strict than conventional at 43%. So they don't seem like they are the best for that. Their recommendation was to move a bunch of our properties/wife's debt to an LLC that my wife doesn't own, and then freeing up her spots again to do more conventional financing. Personally, I don't really like that idea very much because we worked really hard to get a bunch of really nice low interest loans, so moving all that to a commercial loan means we would be increasing our interest rates and shortening our terms (basically worse debt) just so we can buy more residential real estate. Instead, I'm going to go bigger as soon as I move to Florida this summer and focus on commercial that is actually supportive of growth and doesn't care about DTI. But a portfolio lender that will go 10+ loans without strict DTI requirements would be great to have...

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  • Developer · Orlando, FL · Member since 2019 · 9 posts · 0 votes
    6y

    @Matt Leber No, unfortunately in my experience the non-ad valorem tax tends to vary wildly so I typically add 2% to whatever the current year tax bill shows (typically immaterial anyways).

    I'll generally try to look at recent sale comps from the year prior to understand the reassessment rate I'm going to get hit with, usually 75% - 85% of the purchase price. That's a fair point on baking it into the tenant's monthly rent, the only concern is when the property hasn't traded in a long time. I'll grow the millage rate by 2% annually for modeling purposes just to be conservative on top of 2.5% expense growth but to answer your question, no, the millage rate tends to remain fairly constant.

  • Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2015 · 353 posts · 269 votes
    6y

    @Kiera Underwood yes, for Brevard County most of the millage rates seem to be between 15-22 so your general estimate of 2% would fall within the 1.5%-2.2% bracket. At 2% in general, you may be a little light on properties that have millage codes above 20 especially if you have non-ad valorem taxes like storm water and solid waste tax. That’s why I’ve been looking up the exact millage for each property I plan to offer on and adding a buffer on top to be safe. There’s a millage chart by municipality on the county assessors site.

    That being said, taxes in OKC might be a 35 millage for all I know (haven’t researched it), and in that case 2% would definitely be too light.

    Are you investing out in OK? I have a brother living in Owasso, near Tulsa.

  • Rental Property Investor · Miami, FL · Member since 2017 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    6y

    @Matt Leber what is the seasoning period for a cash out refinance with Mid FL?

  • Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2015 · 353 posts · 269 votes
    6y

    @Adam Frocione I used to think 75-85% sale price assessed value until I realized in Brevard County most of my property assessments have climbed up close to 100% of my purchase price within 2 years after purchase. So, that’s why i start with millage times full sale price in thousands to project what my taxes will be a few years down the line. From there I suppose I could model it forward by assuming 2% assessment increases per year going forward. I think that would be the same as 2% millage increases which you are doing. Either way, I feel the tax increases and non-ad valorem are pretty much in the noise when spread over 12 months, taxes paid in November, and assuming 2-5% rent increases year over year.

    My primary in Lake Nona falls in line with the 75-85% assessment to sales price value. But that one has homestead exemption so not sure its quite apples to apples.

  • Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2015 · 353 posts · 269 votes
    6y

    @James Stovall not sure, never done a cash out refinance with mid FL. You should give them a call and ask.

  • Real Estate Agent · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2019 · 956 posts · 600 votes
    6y

    @Matt Leber I was just curious about the markets there! Tax rates have such an impact on returns I like to have a good tap for what's going on in markets that come up quite a bit! 

    I am investing here! In OKC we're typically hitting around 1% of the purchase price annually unless you're in a premium/luxury area. I believe Tulsa is generally a bit higher tax wise!

  • Investor · Rockledge, FL. · Member since 2017 · 62 posts · 21 votes
    6y

    Excellent!

  • Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2015 · 353 posts · 269 votes
    6y

    An update for you all regarding this rental property in the Brevard County - Melbourne, Florida area. Had a section 8 tenant lined up since early March for April 1 move in through the Cocoa housing authority. Housing authority advised the tenant not to pay a deposit until the house passed the section 8 inspection. Was a bit annoyed with that but I understood. Passed the required section 8 inspection and went to meet the tenant same day to sign lease and get deposit (and give her the keys a week early bc Covid was starting to ramp up). She dodged me all day and ended up backing out of the move in. Sigh...

    Started calling my other applicants that day and got another applicant’s paperwork. Was able to fill it all out, visit the office to turn it in, and get a re-inspection scheduled within 3 days. Yes, unfortunately a re-inspect was required bc the applicant had a voucher through a different county housing office and they are not all affiliated. Passed inspection (again!) on 3/22 which was apparently early enough to be on the payroll for rent to drop for April 1. I thought I was going to get 2 rent payments on May 1 to catch me up - but was pleasantly surprised when I saw the tenants full $1375 rent direct deposit to my account on 4/2!

    All in all - the process was a bit cumbersome to get through, and tenant #1 totally wasted a ton of my time and the housing authority’s time. But very thankful to have gotten tenant #2 under lease and deposit so quickly and glad to have a guaranteed rent payment going into this time of covid-19. Both the Cocoa section 8 and Brevard County section 8 offices were a pleasure to work with, would recommend the program to other landlords based on our experience so far.

  • Member since 2018 · 5 posts · 1 vote
    6y

    @Jonathan Paz amazing post Jonathan. I definitely have to get to your level

  • Investor · Middletown, NJ · Member since 2008 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    Hi all! This thread has been very informative, thank you all! My husband and I just closed on our first rental in Brevard, a condo in Melbourne. We've have rental condos in Ft. Lauderdale going on 10 years, but condo Associations have become extremely restricted as far as rentals go now. Hence - the Space Coast. 

    We are using the Space Coast Credit Union for a Heloc on a condo in Ft. Lauderdale, and they are a pleasure to deal with, great rates/terms, but quite slow. It's been almost 6 weeks and we still don't know when we're closing on the first Heloc, and they are processing 3 for us. They are very investor friendly.

    "7 year draw/repayment. No app or origination fees. Rate is fixed for a one year introductory period at 1.99 % and after the expiration the rate will adjust with Prime Rate; rate will be Prime -.50 % margin. Prime Rate is set by the Federal Reserve and Prime rate is 3.25% today."

    Re: renting to Section 8 - we had rented to a Section 8 tenant, and a tenant on rental assistance at our SFR's in NJ, and did not have good experiences. It didn't occur to me to consider tenants on rental assistance for condos, since the tenants have to be approved by the association. I realize they probably cannot discriminate against the source of income (at least they can't in NJ), but has anyone had experience with this?

    Thanks! 

  • Real Estate Consultant · Space Coast, FL · Member since 2018 · 6 posts · 1 vote
    4y
    Quote from @Matt Leber:

    @Nicole Marshall it’s off E Florida Ave near FIT. Probably a C+ neighborhood, but my street is in the furthest corner away from University Ave, so it feels closer to a B-. Plus I have no rear neighbors. I actually have a lakefront view in the back, which all of my prospective tenants have really liked. Really pleased with the amount section 8 will pay, too!


     But so close to Downtown, and all of the new development! Congrats on this one. 

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