All Forum Posts by: Erica Muller
Erica Muller has started 3 posts and replied 114 times.
Post: New Member from Orlando Florida

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
Welcome to the game @James Wheeler!
Post: vacation homes

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
@Thomas Cardona I think it's a great investment. It just depends on where you buy. Some markets are not very vacation rental friendly and others are. I'm in Orlando and here it's a huge niche. It's probably one of the most active in the country and I'm seeing my investors net upwards of 6% annually on their vacation rentals. The key is to understanding the peak seasons where you invest and making sure you book the crap out of them. Never use your property on a peak week and I recommend hiring property management. Any questions, please feel free to reach out.
Post: Buyers list

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
@Account Closed Absolutely start building your list immediately. List building is essential if you're going to unload your properties. I've spent seven years and my list has about 7000+ investors on it now but it took me a while to build it organically. There are ways now to build it quicker via social media and such. But yes, don't wait until you have something to sell to start building your investor list. Now is the time.
Post: CRM for real estate

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
@AmarPal Kalsi I've used pretty much every real estate and CRM software and what I like best is Asana (which is free) for project management. It's amazing and has APIs for almost every other software so you can integrate it with anything. I also use Infusionsoft for marketing and client management. I used Salesforce and hated it. I also used Sugar CRM and loved it but you have to be tech savvy because it's not real estate friendly right out of the box. It requires some coding and setting up. It's worth it though if you're going to build a big database. There is a free version of it.
Good luck!
Post: Buying foreclosures/REO the right option???

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
@David Rutledge Wholesale properties are properties acquired directly from the owners under market value. They're usually acquired by people sending out the "we buy houses" mailers and the ones trying to help people out of their home in bad situations but they're not listed on MLS and they're always under market value. Typically it's an investor putting a house under contract and then quickly assigning it to another investor with a small mark up but the home is still under market value. There's a few ways wholesale properties can be structured but that's the most common.
By slim pickins I mean there isn't much out there right now that is under market value so there's a lot of people trying to buy the same stuff off MLS. That's why off market properties are a much better opportunity.
Post: Best Cities to invest in

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
@David Rutledge Anything here in Orlando on MLS is going to be at the top of the market. There's not really any deals. I buy everything wholesale not on MLS because that's the only way to get under market properties here. I'm happy to pass the deals your way as I can't buy everything.
Also Cape Coral is a good spot but Ft. Myers is also very high priced right now.
Post: Seabring Florida

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
@Carolyn Paige Congrats! I'm originally from Philly also but have lived in Florida most of my life. I live in Orlando and I can say that Sebring is a bit further than an hour and it's not an easy drive to Orlando. It's actually about 2 hours and currently looks like the middle of nowhere. I can definitely see it growing eventually however, it's going to be a really long hold.
If anywhere is going to be promising I would say the Winter Haven area is promising because Legoland is driving a lot of people out there and things continue to be built. Prices are still really low but rents are decent. I would definitely look into that area. Anything along 27 in Polk City is a good buy also as mentioned above but the closer you get to the I-4 corridor the more expensive prices will be because it's primarily all vacation rental investments.
Good Luck!
Post: New Member in Newport Beach, California

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
Hi @Shelley Iocona!! I'm from Philly originally and love it there as well! I invest mainly in Orlando where I live, it's a stable VR market and has been for a while, but I love finding new and promising places to invest. Best of luck with everything! :)
Post: New Member in Seattle, focused on short term rentals

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
Welcome @Andy Whitcomb ! Congrats on your VR success and much more to come in the future!
In Orlando one of the things that almost every guest expects/requests in a vacation rental in some type of gaming system or game room. It's such a huge demand that even builders are now building rooms specific for this in resort communities. Many owners are also opting to send video intro messages to all of the guests who inquire about their listing online since emails seems to be a thing of the past and everything is smart phone based. Of the owner's I've spoken to, this has increased their bookings by at least 20%. It's definitely more work than I think I could commit to but for those who make their living renting their VR's it's worth the time invested.
Best of luck!!
Post: Short Term rentals (AirBnB-VBRO) business models

- Real Estate Agent
- Orlando, FL
- Posts 139
- Votes 80
@Jeff B. I spoke with Matt Curtis (the director of government relations at Homeaway) in May about this in detail. According to him, there is no city exempt or safe from future VR restrictions and bans so nothing is ever guaranteed with vacation rentals and you should always keep that in mind. I will say that there are cities that seems to be more VR friendly than others (such as Sedona and Orlando) and I prefer to invest in those areas vs. areas that are already having issues.
A couple people mentioned a back up plan, I couldn't agree more. If your heart is set on investing in a location where the future of short term rentals is up in the area, definitely make sure you're prepared to convert is to a long term rental or sell it and move your money into something else more profitable.
Nobody can guarantee anything but there's truly never been a better time to invest in vacation rentals than right now. It's a huge boom and sites like Airbnb have changed the industry forever.