All Forum Posts by: Colin G Murphy

Hi @Kyle C.

I´d agree with the gentlemen above. If they have jumped through the hoops to get a job and work visa at an American school (no easy feat for a foreigner), then they have already passed a far stricter screening process than anything you could come up with. Chances are you´ll be very happy with these tenants. 

Ask for copies of their SS numbers and passports for your records whenever they have them.

Sorry, just realised my post above wasn´t very relevant to the original question. With a $200k+ budget, you could look at downtown St Petersburg. Check out the 33701 and 33705 zipcodes. 

North of Tampa / St. Pete in the New Port Richey areas are where we are active at the moment. We look for concrete build, 3 bed single family homes in the $60-80k price range that will rent for $800-$1000 per month after cosmetic renovations. Lot of east coast retirees down here plus local families who are willing to trade a longer commute to downtown for extra space and gardens. Need to be careful to do your due diligence on sink holes & floodzones, but otherwise it´s a nice cashflow and appreciation play. 

Hi @Addison Perez

$55,000 for a 2/2 town home in an A/B area sounds like a nice deal.

If properties in the next neighborhood are renting for $900 per month, then I would base your estimates on that number rather than $950 unless you have several other comps that state otherwise. Also, I would assume more than $1k worth of repairs. In my experience, stuff always turns up in the inspection report that will cost you more than that. 

Here are numbers I would start with

Annual income: $10,800

Property Management: $864 (also, find out what renewal and reletting fees apply and make sure these guys have experience renting this property type in this neighborhood)

HOA: $3,720

Property Taxes: ? (easy to look up)

Property Insurance: ? (your lender will have a say in this)

Mortgage Repayments: ? 

Maintenance Reserve: $900

Vacancy Reserve: $900

Once you figure all that out you´ll have your realistic net income. Also - I´d ask for a copy of the recent HOA accounts. Aside from establishing whether they are taking in more than they can spend every year, it´s in your interest to find out what their bad debts are, what deferred maintenance has been building up and what reserves they´ve set aside for big ticket items such as roof replacement.

Finally, factor in the closing costs (title fees, loan origination fees etc) that will go on top of the purchase price. 

Hi @Matthew Michaels

Have you read the small print of your rental contract? Just because she owns the house doesn´t mean she can break the terms of her tenants rental agreements whenever she wishes to sell. You may have some bargaining chips here.

Hi @Dave J. 

Welcome to the site, I´m also Irish but living in Spain. I have two business partners in the Tampa Bay area (one is also from Dublin) and we purchase rentals and flips in that area and elsewhere. Also was quite involved in Orlando condo sales from 2008-2011 although not so much now. 

Happy to schedule a skype call if you want to run anything past me for your first deal or two. 

Hi @Fabian Cid 

I have purchased property in the UK and the USA (and Spain). The short answer to your questions is "yes"; there are significant differences in the laws and mortgage products in each country. 

The procedures for making offers, wiring deposits, writing purchase contracts, writing rental contracts, applying for finance and submitting tax returns are completely different in the UK & USA. Even within the UK you have large differences. For example the real estate laws for Scotland are completely different to the laws for England.

As @Chaz Reid mentioned, many of the concepts, strategies and best practices are the same in both countries, but you will need to deal with local experts in each. 

Here is a website providing some useful basic info on the UK market

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/housing_e.ht...

Best of luck! 

Hi @John Hughes 

I would tend to agree with @Jeff S.  above. The regional hard money lenders can be a huge pain, particularly for people starting out. I have just come out the other side of a torturous 3 month process to get a hard money loan for a beach condo in St. Petersburg. We are sticking with private lenders for the next few deals as it is much more straightforward.

It is far less onerous (although not necessarily cheaper) to target direct lenders in your local area. You´ll still need to charm them and present them with professional brochures prior to funding including deal summary, financial breakdown, detailed renovation budget, suggested loan terms, local market comps and yes, a personal guarantee.

Keep plugging away buddy. If you´re finding good deals and you have the skill to turn them around at a profit then the funding process will get much easier over time. 

Hi @Amanda Cook 

Great note and well done on starting your real estate journey. I too am an expat who has lived in Spain for 10 years and my kids were born here. I have no plans to move although that hasn´t stopped me from flipping several properties in and around Charlotte over the past few years (hint: I have great local partners). 

If you´re ever in Madrid, let´s hook up for a coffee. 

Hi @Sarah B. 

I would be very wary of purchasing properties in the $30-40k range from out of state, especially if the strategy is a long term buy and hold. Almost by definition, these properties will have more vacancies, more repairs and more headaches than properties in the median price ranges.

$30-40k in Tampa Bay doesn´t go very far these days, you will be in class C and D neighborhoods. Have you considered leveraging that up and getting better quality properties?