All Forum Posts by: Christian Paez

@Patrick V. Home Solution Title, Inc. 4406 Florida Ave S #27, Lakeland, FL 33813

I have used them often for various investor transactions

@Farhad Rahmani welcome to Polk county, I can relate to landing in Polk county by luck, I ended up coming to Lakeland back in 1997, what brought me here was my work, I accepted a job with what was at the time Computerland of Lakeland now they are Perpetual Technology Solutions, I have had many opportunities to leave, but always end up staying in Lakeland.

Auburndale and Winter Haven are great areas to invest in, excellent neighborhoods with good potential opportunities for rentals or flipping.

PCREIA is an established group, there is a great mix of investors, from greenhorns all the way up to seasoned investors, and once in a while we will get some legends come and join our meetings, great place to network and meet like minded people.

First visit if free

$120 1yr for one person

$150 1yr for couple

$375 1yr for corporate sponsorship

You have probably seen that Lakeland, FL is a popular investment city these days, some of the reasons for this is that Polk County/Lakeland is ideally located centrally to Orlando and Tampa, we have many warehouses strategically located throughout Polk County, to include warehouses for Amazon, IKEA, RoomsToGo, PepsiCo and Publix which make this area strategic for distribution throughout Florida, not to mention Publix is headquartered in Lakeland, and we also have a large presence for Coca Cola bottling and Juices in Auburndale, FL  which is about 10-20 min from Lakeland.

I have been investing since 2002, and my investments are mainly in Lakeland, Bartow, Auburndale and Winter Haven, I also like Lake Wales and Haines City, there is good population growth, and high demand for workers in these areas, of course keep in mind we are in a pretty descent economy right now, whatever you look at, make sure the numbers make sense, and if you purchase something, leave enough room for an economic downturn, I see many outside investors purchasing at higher than normal prices, because the prices seem cheap compared to other markets close to Lakeland, but this can become a trap if the market shifts in a negative direction.

@Jose L Torres I am an investor in the Polk County Florida area, I used to drive down state road 60 almost on a weekly basis, SR 60 goes through Indian Lake Estates, just so you have an idea after you pass Lake Wales, which is about 10-20 min West from Indian lakes, the area is desolate, there are a lot of open fields and miles of pasture, Indian Lakes was established in the 50s by a Wealthy investor, the plan was to build thousands of homes, but the project quickly ran into financial problems and they had to sell the project, there has been a recent uptick in building again, but nothing major, I would recommend you do some further research to see if indeed there is activity before jumping in.

@Launi Shapiro we met at the PCREIA meeting, it was great meeting you, we invest in Polk county, including Lakeland, I can introduce you to local resources, I would be glad to put you in contact.

@Jeremiah Perry we followed the process of purchasing a property which was in need of remodeling, we would identify any necessary upgrades, as this is a perfect opportunity to fix any items which may give you headaches down the road, such as plumbing, electric, ac, roof etc. once the property has been fully restored and while it has been listed for rent, we move to apply for a loan in this case Line of Credit which uses the property as collateral, the lending institution will have an appraisal performed against the property to determine the value, however many banks are now requiring at least 1-2 years of maturity on the property before they accept the fully appraised value, meaning they will loan you a certain percentage (generally 60-80%) of the value of the purchase price plus the investment for the repairs, I have found many banks are moving in that direction lately, where a year ago they would do the loan based on appraised value with just 6 months maturity, but I would recommend you shop your local lenders for more options.

Our situation was similar to yours as our company was fairly new, but since we had W2 income, and good credit history, we were able to list as Guarantors for the loan, so that is a plus you have going for yourself. What I can recommend as a tip is you should have all your financial information handy and ready, they will require you to fill out a PFS (Personal financial statement) which will list any assets and debts you may have, having this information ready ahead of time will save a lot of time and effort, I have been using Mint for many years, I am able to list properties, cars, and investment accounts in the system, which makes it easy for me to pull up the information and quickly provide a snapshot of my financial information.

Hi Joel,

I have lived in Lakeland for over 20 years, it is a wonderful area, and the investment opportunities are still reasonable, we have full real estate services, to include an investment focused real estate agent, we have managed numerous rehabs, FLIPs, we specialize in long term properties. I would like to discuss in further detail what it is you are trying accomplish, ping me so we can see how we can help.

Hi Chris, I have exercised the BRRR (Buy Rehab Rent Refinance) method a couple of times, in Lakeland I have used Midflorida Credit Union for a line of credit and a Secured Commercial loan, I have also worked with Center State Bank for a line of credit, PM me if you would like specific contacts

First off, I would take a good hard look at where you are investing, if the prices are decreasing, then it is time to look at a different location, because even if you sell your house, and all you have are expensive properties which are going to loose value, than you are going to be stuck chasing your tail, and making minimal profit. Once you have figured out where and if you would like to continue investing in real estate, than you can map out a good solid plan, and if the plan includes selling your property, I would offer your tenant first option to buy, eventhough your tenant is getting a divorce (or maybe is divorsed by now) I would extend the offer to him, you never know he might be willing to partner up, and maybe house hack a duplex or quadplex with you.

@Glenn McCrorey the information you have provided is invaluable, I scurried over to Kevin B podcast, and looked up your episode, and I must say that is great information. Now to start looking for companies who provide HCBS in our area, I did have a question about the companies who provide these services, are these generally the same companies who provide Assisted living?

Another quick question, when you mention that 3 to 5 individuals, do you treat them as separate tenants? are they each renting a room? or is this all a single rental? How do you find out what kind of modifications are necessary for the potential renter? do the modifications have to meet some kind of code? do the properties have to adhere to commercial standard code? or do they still adhere to residential?

Sorry for so many questions, it's just that as I keep typing other questions keep popping up.