All Forum Posts by: Alberto Nikodimov

Hi everyone!

I am a licensed agent in Florida and I'm currently in a position where I have several clients ready to invest but good deals are hard to come around! I'm looking for good deals anywhere in the Orlando Area. I also have couple investors interested in Miami. My clients are looking for Single family homes or small Multifamily units. As you all know, the market here in Orlando is very hot and those deals don't come around very often. Everything coming my way seems to be overpriced or in poor condition.

I am open to partnerships with agents and I have posted a similar message to several different Real Estate groups. I have also informed everyone in my network about the types of deals I'm looking for.

What is the best way to increase my chances of finding the desired deals?

Do you have any pro tips?

Have you been in a similar position before?

I'm always open to connecting with local professionals and learn about their way of doing business!

Thank you for your help in advance!

Hi Mike,

It seems like there are few issues here not just the price drop.

1) Lack of communication or miscommunication. One of the most important part for a property manager is to communicate with the owners, good or bad news. If the price was too high but you insisted on listing, what we would typically do in a week is tell you that you need to drop the price or the unit will sit on the market for a long period of time. At this point, any reasonable investor will do the math and make a decision but the key is for the property manager who is an expert in the market to raise this flag and warn you about the potential problem of long vacancy. If you are experienced property manager and you rent between 15-30 properties a month like we do, you know when a unit will sit on the market for a long time! Traffic never lies!

2) The second issue you are having is not trusting your property manager. Hiring a property manager should be a type of partnership where the  PM values your business and you value his work. There shouldn't be any scenario where a PM wants the property empty. We never charge our owners when the property is empty. We believe that you are hurting and your property is vacant, we should do everything we can to help you out.

3) You need to know exactly what is written in your contract. Your PM company should have walked you through the entire contract and explained you what they can and can't do. Like @Daniel Smyth said some agreements allow property managers to pretty much do anything and this is not necessarily a bad thing. The goal of every PM company should be building a strong relationship with the owners. Once a property management company proves they do everything they can to protect your interest and help your investment, you can let go and stop micromanaging. As an investor, your goal should be to have a PM who you truly trust with your investments so you can concentrate on growing your portfolio. However, if they haven't proven themselves and take too much freedom in their actions because their contract allows it, this type of trust issues will come up and the partnership will never be the same.

My advice is: Give your management a call and have a conversation. You need to decide if this is still a good fit or you should both move forward.

Good luck!

HI @Brandon S. , there are many areas where you can find a good deal which makes sense. The most important part is knowing exactly what you are looking for. From what I understand, you are trying to get something under market value, fix it up quickly to increase value and then rent and hold. Those deals are not very easy to come by and you need to have everything in place to pull the trigger when the right deal comes your way. The market is very competitive at the moment. I like the following zip codes 32808, 32810,32811,32818, 32822, 32703 and 32712. This does not mean that you cannot find great deals in other areas but generally speaking, other areas are just too high to make rentals with a decent return.

Hi @Lucas Dubs, congrats on your first house! Christopher made a great comment. Make sure your late fees are reasonable. What I would also like to add is, make sure you have those late fees in writing. Even when doing house hacking it doesn't hurt being formal and having your tenants/roommates sign something. There are many free agreements online which you can use.

Good luck!

Hi Saul, we have a great program where we do everything in house. Me and my team can help you analyze different investments options, find the right property, rent it and manage it. I will be happy to talk to you!

Hi Dylan, first of all congrats for thinking about investing in a short term rental property! 

I would highly recommend going by the rules. I have been managing short term rentals for more than 3 years now and I have learned a think or two about this type of situations. Short term rentals can be very profitable and this is what makes it so tempting to try and break some rules and get away with it. The truth is that you may be able to but it is not worth it risking it for two reasons. In my experience, sooner or later you will get in trouble with either neighbors, city, booking websites or even get reported by guests staying at your property which are unhappy with something in the property. It is also possible to get away with it but this brings me to my second reason for not recommending to do this: You will be always worried about getting in trouble and this will ruin your experience even if you are profitable. Example, if you have a problematic guest, which happens often in this industry, you will be going to bed thinking about them and praying that everything will go well and they won't cause any problems with neighbors which may expose you. This goes against my way of investing and running business and I don't recommend starting your first short term rental investment this way.

There are plenty great properties in areas which welcome short term rentals. You will both be profitable and most importantly stress free! Just get in touch with a local realtor who specializes in short term rentals or with on of the best short-term rental property management companies in town and they will be able to provide you with suitable properties and even give you track records of previous years so you know what to expect. Even if you decide to self-manage they can represent you in the transaction and both sides will be happy.

Please keep me updated and let me know what you have decided to do! Good luck! :)

I had a horror story with a 75 year old tenant who stayed for a month in our short term rental property and then offered us to pay for a whole year upfront above market price and even do some updates in the unit. Everything looked good in the screening process, no eviction or collections. Background check also came back good and since we already had the tenant in for one month and the property looked great we felt confident. We accepted the offer and 4 months in tenant called us for a huge leak at the property caused by the AC. Long story short, tenant who was staying at a waterfront property never closed the balcony door which caused constant condensation and damaged the whole AC system. We had to replace the entire AC which cost us $2,800. The worst part was that the technician giving us the estimate told us he's never seen a property in a worse condition in his entire career. We went out for inspection and I have never seen a property in a worse condition in my life either. There was mold everywhere and all furniture in the apartment were destroyed. None of the doors were closing including the front door of the apartment due to the mold and humidity in the air. There were also 2 other unauthorized guests. We started the eviction process but we were not able to get them out for another 8 months due to the large prepayment. We received multiple fines from the condo and the renovations cost us a fortune. 

What I took away as a property manager and landlord from this story is that you should never feel too confident with a tenant no matter how good they look on paper. If it seems to good to be true it probably is!

Hi Omar, I have a lender who can finance foreigners with 35% down payment for pretty much any type of property up to 5 million. Let me know if you want me to put you in touch with them.

Hi @Brian G., thanks for reaching out! In regards to the software, it really depends on how many properties you are currently managing. I would recommend different software for different sizes businesses.

I will be happy to share how we grew step by step. I will send you a message.

Hey Alyssa, congratulations on deciding to start investing! I'm glad that you are looking into short-term rental properties. I have been managing about 50 of them in few different cities in the past few years. It is definitely exciting but I will have to warn you that you are getting yourself into a part time job! First of all, there are many things going into vacation rentals. You will need to educate yourself on management software, pricing software and you will constantly have to look at your competitors and adjust your pricing in order to be successful. You will also have to deal with tenants, booking platforms and more issues than a regular rental property. With that being said, if you do a good job it will definitely be rewarding. A good short term rental property can be very profitable!

Some things you need to look at before purchasing a short term rental property:
1) Make sure zoning and city allows short term rentals. If they do, get all required licenses. After all this is a business.
2) Make sure that vacation rentals are something normal in the community where you are buying or at least your property is far enough from other properties in the area and your tenants won't bother your neighbors. I don't advice buying a short term rental property is a classic residential area. Residents tent to get upset when there are many people coming in and out and this can cause you many problems.
3) If you decide to hire management company, make sure they are great. I prefer smaller management companies because in most cases they tent to care much more. Ask for statements from previous properties and check what was the average occupancy in 4-5 properties which they manage. Then compare those numbers to the average occupancy levels in your area in different seasons.

I hope this was helpful. I can keep going for another hour but best thing to do is educate yourself as much as you can on the industry before making a move. I will be happy to look into a deal with you once you have it and tell you my opinion.

Good luck!