All Forum Posts by: Adrian Castillo

For new Real Estate investors would you say Tampa or Cape Coral would be a better place to start building a portfolio?

I am in the inspection period on a property in a great North Tampa neighborhood called Carrollwood. The property sits on a double lot and has the following characteristics:

• -3/2, 2,141 sq. Ft, built in1958
• -Roof is 5 years old
• -AC is operational, but we don’t know its age
• -Ranch style home
• -Lot size is 167 X 200, .0766 acres, three times the size of most other lots in this neighborhood

My plan is to "sell" or wholesale the property and half the lot to a fix and flipper through a double closing (the agent didn't want a wholesaler in the deal), demise the full lot into two, then sell the leftover lot on the retail market.

Any guidance another professional can provide around demising Tampa lots, ie: do's and don'ts and who to contact and estimates for rehab would be helpful. The home is a full gut job except that plumbing and electrical is fine. Is $45/sq ft. a good placeholder to use in my underwriting for the Tampa fix and flip market?

Thanks,

Rhea

Hi everyone!

I am wanting to wholesale vacant land and wanted help with understanding how to determine if the land is attractive to cash buyers. Is it primarily the location of the land or are there other factors?

Also, how do you determine the value of the land or what are cash buyers typically paying for it nowadays?

I appreciate your help. Thank you!

Hello, Im planning ahead and wondering how some of you have managed the rehab and your contract. 

Once you have the contractor/GC you are wanting to work with, how do you both set expectations of what will be done and by who? How do you create the remodel plan of what additions will be made/what things will be fixed/ or if a huge rehab-what will the layout and finishes be like? Should the contractor be able to give you a new layout design?

What about all the material? Generally, who's responsibility is it to purchase the required material? If it is the contractor's, how do they know what material to buy when it comes down to finishes and the style of the rehab? Is it up to their discretion?

Hi, 

I inherited a Tarrant Housing Authority Section 8 tenant when I bought this property around 2 years ago in Fort Worth TX. For the last 8-10 months I have been telling my property manager to talk to Tarrant Housing Authority people and raise the rent for this property. The current rent is around $ 200- $300 below the market rent. First response from Housing Authority was that they have a max allowed % increase and based on that they can only raise rent by $150 per month. I did not agree and asked my Property Manager to resubmit with the increment of $250.  Then 3-4 months passed, and we never heard back anything even after repeated pings. Finally in Dec 2022, I got tired of waiting and I grudgingly agreed to $150 rent increase. But now it's been 4 months and still I keep getting the same rent. My property manager keeps saying that the Tarrant County Housing Authority people are NOT responding to her voice messages and even when she gets them on phone, they are not very forthcoming with the next steps to approve this rent increase. 

Has anybody dealt with a similar situation? As a landlord can I call or chat with somebody OR its best to communicate thru the property manager ONLY? I am tempted to give the renter a Notice to vacate and then find another tenant. BUT the current renter is OK and if possible, I want to save myself the expense of yet another make-ready on this unit. Given the vacancy and make-ready expense, I am assuming it will take me at least year to breakeven with the increased rent.  Your expert tips and suggestions are greatly appreciated. 

Cheers!!