All Forum Posts by: Andrew Ashby

@Peter Amico, you're right about the prices in the actual city of Orlando making cash flow difficult. However, better cash flow is still easily had in the outlying towns like Clermont, Apopka, Davenport, Kissimmee, Altamonte Springs, and so forth. You're still in the Orlando Metro Area, but prices are far more reasonable. As it concerns switching investment types, I think it's hard to argue against the cash flow and scalability of multi-family apartment complexes. If you can come up with $100-$300k in cash as a down payment, you could find a smaller apartment complex. 

@Quan Hong Chu, Welcome to BP! I can send you some market reports on Orlando if you like. PM me. 

@Melissa Nichols, When I left the Navy, I only knew that I wanted to pursue sales. I had no idea which industry I was going to sell in. Pharma made a great impression on me and made an attractive offer. I'm grateful for the smooth transition to civilian life that it made possible, but I had no passion for healthcare. I finally found my calling in real estate. When I look back on my career, I realize that my real estate interest was always there...lurking under the surface, just waiting to be seen as a real possibility. 

I wanted to take a minute to highlight some of the market data that we should all be watching in Orlando right now. According to a recent multi-family market report from Marcus & Millichap, rents in the Orlando Metro Area are up 5% over the last four quarters alone (with some submarkets reaching more than 8%). The area has added over 400,000 residents in the last five years and vacancy rates are at historic lows around 3%. Average rent in the metro area is now at $1,115 per month. Orlando is showing a 3.6% job growth rate year over year, which is double that of the national rate. According to Florida Realtors, the Orlando MSA has seen a 7.2% increase in single family home sales volume and a 9.3% increase in median sales price year over year. 

@Lalit K., a quick preliminary review of The Grove shows that it's a combination condo/hotel and you would have the option of putting the condo into the rental program. However, you'll want to be assured of this availability at the time of purchase and it also looks like you may be forced to use their in-house management company (at a premium fee I'm sure) in order for it be in the rental program. I would advise expanding your search to include SFRs and townhouses that are zoned for short term rental.

@Karoline Kaon, I went with an online course offered by Bog Hogue School of Real Estate and I passed the exam the first time. I highly recommend using that one.

@Santos Gloria, If it gives you any encouragement, my 4 rental units only replaced a small fraction of my monthly income from my former corporate job. My cash reserves from savings and a 401k lump sum payout is what gave me the confidence to jump in as agent full time who's NOT likely to see his first paycheck for several months. My secret sauce has been to keep my monthly obligations VERY low...I have no student loans (military college), I have no car payments but I have two cars (I don't finance cars), my iPhone is a 5s (I don't finance phones), and I don't have cable. 

If your job isn't making you miserable, it could still be a great vehicle to fuel your real estate investing. Mine just happened to make me miserable, and it was time to pursue my passion. 

@Alex Caguana, Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of advice for wholesaling or flipping because I have done neither. I could say I've "flipped and rented", but I haven't flipped and sold. My advice for either wholesaling or flipping is to find a mentor who is already successful and volunteer some sweat equity in exchange for the education. You could probably even strike a deal for a share of the profits in a flipping deal if you're bringing substantial sweat equity. 

Let me make something else clear if you're not that handy: NO BIG DEAL. Neither was I. I've taught myself and I've had the help of family members. I've bought the right tools and watched the right YouTube videos. If manual labor makes you miserable or you have absolutely no willingness to learn this stuff or your time is far more valuable, then by all means spend more money and hire it out. Home Depot offers great free classes on DIY projects. When you're starting out, learning how to do this stuff yourself now will make it much harder for contractors to "pull the wool over your eyes" later. 

I have plans to enter flipping as well, and when I do it will be with a contractor friend of mine where I'll be fronting all the money and expenses (with the help of private money lenders) and he'll be fronting his time and labor and we'll be splitting the profits 50/50. My license here helps with this because I'll be entitled to a commission on both sides of the transaction (the acquisition and disposition of the property). 

@Audrick Brown IV, yes I plan to be an agent full time and continue my own investing and enter flipping as well. Yes, Florida and likely all states require that you initially be licensed as an agent for 2-3 years (depending on the state) before you can get a broker's license and go fully independent. While you're an agent, you must affiliate (be employed by) a broker for your license to be active. 

@Chingju Hu, Yes, the six figure jobs are indeed golden handcuffs for most people. As for the duplex, I wanted cash flow and I was willing to go into C-/D+ neighborhoods to get it. My agent kept a close lookout for me, so I pounced on it the day it came on the MLS: stable street in a C- area, built 2005, central A/C and heat, 3/1 on each side, 1050 sq ft on each side. I bought it for $80,000 with 25% down, so my cash plus closing costs were about $24,000. The NOI is about $11,500 and the cash-on-cash return is just short of 26%.