All Forum Posts by: Carlos Rovira

I run a small web design firm in Miami. What I'd suggest for you if you're starting out is to find a low cost DIY solution such as SquareSpace or WIX. This allows you to put something up fairly quickly.

If you do not want to spend any time on it and prefer to outsource all of it, I'm happy to chat with you further about what we offer, though honestly I wouldn't invest in anything too robust when you're just starting out. I'd focus on marketing and finding deals before putting a web site together. 

Most private lenders would expect upwards of 8%. It is in your best interest to get the lowest rate possible so that is the one thing I'd negotiate the most. I bought my house with 15% down, and seller financing at 5%, but I just got lucky and the seller was 70+ years old, didn't live in the property, and didn't need the money, so he was flexible. If you're dealing with a savvy investor, he may expect a higher rate. 

As far as payments, if you buy at $55k with 10% down, you're financing $49,500. Your monthly payment would be $49,500 x [Interest Rate] / 12. Just do the math with whatever rate you are expecting.

Closing costs would be more or less the same as a regular transaction. They may be a bit cheaper since conventional lenders tend to charge high fees for origination, escrows, etc. Again, it depends on what terms your seller is providing for the financing. Hard to answer the questions without more specific information. Have an open discussion with the seller and see what he/she is expecting. I'd be interested in finding out what he offers.

A portfolio lender usually won't care if you rent the property. Depends on the lender. You will know once you read the loan commitment letter. You can always just ask. 

@Michael A. mentioned, it is hard to say whether it will get enforced or not if you are current on your payments. 

@Patrice Baker

One thing to keep in mind, is that your web site will never be finished. The first and foremost stage is to get it created. There are various options for this. I always recommend my clients go with WordPress since it has very robust content management and the templates are very easy to set up. Make sure your site has a mobile version (it has to be "responsive").

Other than that, your focus should be on optimizing the site so that it performs well and provides a good source of leads. This is where you will spend the majority of your time and dollars investing. Google Adwords is good, but you need to hire a marketing firm that knows how to do this, otherwise you're throwing away money. SEO (search engine optimization) is also very important and costly, emphasizing the importance of hiring someone who knows how to do this. Ranking high on search engines organically is a valuable thing and will also generate a ton of business. 

@Tobey Porter vacation rental management is definitely more hands on than regular residential and there is a huge marketing component that is crucial to keeping your property's vacancy as low as possible. That said, there is huge upside to owning vacation rentals that are well managed and doing it correctly can provide major returns.

Reach out to @David O. He owns a couple of vacation homes in FL and also manages for others. I'm sure he can provide more insight as to the intricacies of this business. 

I need someone to recommend a good AC Technician in Indianapolis. I have a property manager telling me that a 7 year old compressor needs to be replaced for $1,600. Need to get a second opinion to make sure it can't just be fixed rather than replaced. PM me with recommendations. Thanks!

@Jill Johns I run a small web design firm down here in Miami, and we create web sites for start up businesses all the time. While this is a legitimate concern, you need to at least create some sort of online presence to give you some legitimacy. 

A showcase of your past deals (i.e. a portfolio) is the thing that will demonstrate your track record and show to potential clients (i.e. sellers, buyers, etc.) that you are the real deal. In the meantime, you should at least put up a basic about page with a well written summary of what it is that you are striving to accomplish. Consider that portion of your web site as the "cover page" while your portfolio is the "resume." You still need to define what your business model is if you want to get traction. Once you have a few deals under your belt, you can create the portfolio page and build upon your web site.

A web site is always evolving. It is never finished and you should expect to continuously evolve and iterate on it as your business grows. That said, I usually recommend WordPress for start up businesses as @Luka Milicevic has suggested. It is the easiest to set up and the most low maintenance system. 

Reach out to me further if you want additional guidance, since I do this on a daily basis. Good luck! 

@Chris Leonard I can also recommend an SEM company if you want to compare quotes. PM me if interested.

As @Roger Poulin mentioned, SEO is more of an art than it is a science, and it could take months if not years to achieve results. 

When initially designing the site, you should probably pay attention to the type of words you are using in the web site copy. This will be indexed by the search engines organically. Make sure to use key words that are relevant to the topic of the site (i.e. real estate in Tennessee, etc). The content needs to be good quality and well written and you cannot stuff the copy with a lot of the same keywords as this will harm your ranking. 

When it comes to paid search ads, this is a different animal altogether and takes a lot of optimization and marketing knowledge. For your purposes, I'm assuming you're just redoing his web site. I would only emphasize the basic SEO practices on building the initial site. If your client is interested running a paid search ad campaign, I'd offer him that as a separate service and refer him to a marketing company that specializes in this, if you are not comfortable doing it yourself.