All Forum Posts by: Jean H.

@Ayana Morali Since you have a pretty sweet rental situation going on right now, I think you should consider a reverse 1031. My friend did this in the Bay Area. He sold a rental property, then bought a house he was planning to eventually move into, got a renter for a couple of years and then moved in. The 1031 deferred the capital gains taxes, and then converting it back to a homestead enabled him to use the $500,000 (for married filing jointly) exemption to capital gains for personal residence.

I didn’t do this myself, and am not sure what the specific rules on how long after you 1031 your current rental into your wannabe home you have to rent out your wannabe home. I think it’s two years, but it may just be just one. Maybe someone familiar with 1031 rules can chime in?

@Weng L. I understand your pain. I was going through a cash out refi of a BRRRR and was about to close at 75% LTV 30-year fixed at 3.625% under my LLC. Then Covid happened, and they said, sorry can't do 75%LTV, only 65%. Sigh. Decided to go through with it anyway even though I'm only cashing out 1/4 of what I put into the property, since I'm saving over a point. Close next week.

@Eddy Ramos I invest in Little Havana and near Little Haiti, but I’ve never heard of a Little Jamaica in Miami. Where is that?

If you’re worried about elevation, then Little Haiti is where you want to be. I had heard that a lot of investors started seriously looking at Little Haiti after Irma because Little Haiti is basically the highest ground we have here in Miami. There’s been a lot of investment activity there, especially because it’s an affordable area rent-wise that’s close to Wynwood and the Design District.

@Lee Jedlicka Hey Lee, I PMed you the contact info for my lender, 1First Bank. They helped me buy 2 properties in Miami under my LLC, which was less than 2 years old.

@Michael Glaser I also balked once I saw those loan terms. It would be one thing if they just wanted notice if we sell or refinance, but "prior written permission." No way. The SBA is slammed as it is. I'm sure giving "prior written permission" for every business with an EIDL means it would take god knows how long to refinance or sell anything, or in my case, move money between LLCs since it was my parent LLC that got the EIDL but it's my subsidiary LLCs that own the properties that have sustained the economic injury.

After I saw the terms, I decided not to sign. I will figure out another way to keep my business going.

@Jean-Baptiste Ramet As Maggie said, I would first look at zoning. Is it zoned SFR or duplex or multifamily? If it's zoned SFR (which is what it sounds like), an appraiser and a lender will only use SFRs as comparables which would not help you in the refi phase of the BRRRR. They would discount any renovations on anything above and beyond what is on the property record.

If it is legally an SFR but is in a duplex zoning, you could apply to rezone it a duplex. That would really help with your appraisal and refi—a lot of value add.

@Lesley Resnick I’m in my Miami and every time I drive to Orlando and pass “Squirrel Level Road,” I have to laugh.

@Carl Payne I see you're from Miami, like me. Are your STR properties in Miami, too? If so, you may be interested in a MeetUp/WhatsApp group I helped start called AirBnb Hosts Miami. While our MeetUps have moved to Zoom, our WhatsApp chat is still going strong. We talk a lot about what's going on in the STR market specifically in Miami (did you know that AirBnb hosts in Florida have sued deSantis over his executive order shutting down AirBnbs? I found out on the chat.)

It’s also been a good place to network with lenders, agents, managers, cleaners, etc, as well as to trade leads on bookings (so if I find someone wanting a 4bd with a pool in Doral but I only have studios in Hollywood, I’ll put it in the chat and match people up). PM me if you want to join or look up “AirBnb Hosts Miami” on Meetup.

We also have a separate chat just for furniture sales and swaps, and another one for leads on buying and selling AirBnb properties, should you decide to go those routes.

Best of luck.

@Kyle Joseph I’m in Miami. We have pivoted to medium-term rentals (1-3 month furnished rentals) and have booked enough just to cover expenses. Just trying to hold on until we can open back up again. Luckily for us, we were able to do pretty well when the Super Bowl came to town. Unluckily for us, vacation rentals were shut down during our high season of spring break. The ban on vacation rentals will probably ease up just as we go smack dab into the middle of slow season for us (Miami summer) so I’m using this time to do some much needed renovation work in the units that I’m not medium-term renting.

@Lucy Iburg well, right now, Airbnbs and other weekly/daily rentals aren’t allowed anywhere in Miami because of Coronavirus. So far, the mandatory shut down of STRs goes until April 30, 2020.

But if you’re talking before and (hopefully) after the shutdown, then if you’re beholden to Miami Beach, there’s an area about 5-10 min north of Miami Beach called North Beach where I believe the city doesn’t have regulations on Airbnbs. However, if you buy a condo, you have to make sure your COA allows it. Most don’t.

If you don't mind going even more north, Hollywood Beach, which is close to Ft Lauderdale airport, has places where you can just walk to the beach and the city of Hollywood, FL has regulations on how to get an STR permit, which means the city has actually thought about AirBnbs and is intentionally allowing them.

If you’re interested in this area, I have a lot of fellow Airbnbers who who were over-leveraged when the shut down hit and are now trying to get out of the game. So good time to get deals.