As a Realtor in Gainesville FL, I can offer you my subjective opinions while attempting to be as objective as possible:
3 years ago, finding a great investment opportunity was the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. Different investors may have a slight variance in how they report their percentage of return, but to put it in perspective, my local investor pool would typically only purchase a property that showed a 15 to 25% return. I even had a guy pass on what I perceived to be a steal a couple of years ago (24 units in a multi family neighborhood) as he said the return was "only between 12 & 13%". I at that time advised him to look at the monthly cash flow and not just the margin. He has since regretted passing on that opportunity.
Fast forward to 12 to 15 months ago. By that time, there were no longer any great buys to be found on the MLS. In the event something worthwhile did hit the MLS, it quickly would turn into multiple offers and the price would get bidded up. The solution was there were several wholesalers that still had some pretty good buys off market.
In todays market, there are not in my opinion much in the way of great buys on the MLS or off market as even the wholesalers are bringing me "deals" at retail prices. When providing this feedback, I am mainly referring to traditional rental opportunities, or flip possibilities.
To not be all doom & gloom, I want to transition to some positive points:
Though at the market prices properties are now selling for, the numbers are less appealing for traditional rentals,-AirBnB has caught fire. In particular, there are a couple of local property managers that specialize in & only handle AirBnb properties. This has opened up new opportunities for investors, as the numbers have many investors downright giddy. (I will say there does need to be taken into account that our city council & Alachua County in general have a bit of a reputation for overreach in government. There is some concern as to whether in the future there will be any new taxes, guidelines, ordinances, etc that could impact the ease & profitability with AirBnb. For the time being however, let the good times roll.)
@Jenn BaronaTwo local resources I highly recommend to interject with some further feedback for you are: @Jenn BaronaIn spite of the market getting tougher to find "deals", Jen has continued to hustle and find deals. Jen's family I've observed has still had success with a couple of flips of their own,-and is still entrenched in the Real Estate investment community.
Also, Jen Turner a local investor who has had success with house hacking and a couple of BRR properties is always glad to help and offer insight pertaining to vendors, contractors, etc.
