All Forum Posts by: Adrian Smude

@Paul Winka the Polk County area along I4 still has affordable housing for people; these people can easily get on I4 and work in Tampa or Orlando so they won't have to move because of job change.  This is besides all the jobs locally.  Polk county isn't typically the big shinny object like Miami, Tampa, St Pete etc so we get less investors bidding up the prices (but let's keep that between us ;-) ). Another big reason is I live in Plant City and plan to stay here, and I don't want to drive more than 30 minutes for a tenant.  I love Brandon Riverview area that @Jeff Copeland gave great insight about, but at this moment I haven't put much focus there because of the competition.  I just haven't seen many/any deals that look amazing. Once we get our next pull back I'm sure I'll be buying over there again.  

@Paul Winka I've liked Polk County for these reason, but I don't chase things like this.  I let it build to my reasoning of liking the area.  Lakeland-Winter Haven area has many warehouse style jobs and is in a great location on I4.  These are a few of the reasons I have rents here and I am actively looking for more.  

Connect with wholesalers if you are buying cash/hard money. Also mailers.

I'm interested in properties in Bartow, Lakeland and sometimes Winter Haven.  

@Matthew Kreitzer that's the type answer I was looking for.  Thanks!  

First off, you live in a great city and I think we should meet for lunch or coffee one day! I just went through with this on a home I purchased next door in Polk County. Long story short it took me about 60 hours of my time between the permitting office and correcting little things they wanted done within two weeks; and $700 to get it squared away. I was very dumb to how everything worked :-D which we helped them want to help me. I did not fight them with the stupid things they wanted such as a permit pulled for smoke detectors with site plans for there location in the house. I've heard Hillsborough county takes much longer because you can't sit and wait to talk to the person you need to. You turn paperwork in and hope and wait. My advice is plan/calculate for the worst and if you can purchase with those numbers hope you can get things taken care of sooner.

For a person that holds their rentals in Land Trusts and does not have a massive wholesale company why wouldn't he/she have everything under 1 LLC? The LLC wouldn't ever hold any assets. One the wholesale side it would be assigning/selling interest in an option/double closing and on the rental side it's more of a pass through that manages the rentals owned by the Trustee. Just seems like we over complicate things sometimes by having an LLC for each part of the business.

I'm not saying I plan to go this route, but the question was sparked when talking to a non real estate buddy the other day.  

@Chris Viglietta I invest only in central FL.  I like to keep them close to home.  

@Peter Gonzalez welcome to BP!  Lakeland is a great market for buy and hold :-).  I agree with @Manny Cirino that it's become very competitive recently in the Lakeland area.  This doesn't mean you can't find deals,  it make sure they are deals.  If you are not familiar with Lakeland I suggest you drive around a bit because there are some war zones.  I look forward to running into you in Lakeland. 

@Simpson St Louis welcome to BP!   You have GOREIA and CFRI out in Orlando for meet ups.  I focus in Polk County so if you ever get something in my area let me know.  I'm in Plant City (Winter Strawberry Capital of the world!)