All Forum Posts by: Mike Miller

Has anyone had any experience, or looked into acquiring a unit in Celebration, FL as a buy and hold rental? The HOA can be high in the neighborhood, but it commands good rents, even for 1/1 units ($1250/mo). We are looking at possibly doing a owner occupied for a year. Maybe renting out a spare room. Not really sure yet. I am looking for input.

1) 15-20 years out does not bother me for retirement income.  I have other means that I plan to be FI well before that.  Worst case other assets could pay this off if I wanted the timeline to move up.

2) I plan on investing the cashflow into the market and letting it grow vs paying extra on the property.  This works 2 fold.

a. Grows at around 8% instead of paying off a 5.5% mortgage.

b. Gives me liquid cash to use if something goes wrong!

3) Good idea.  I will need to be firm on this.  There has been a lot of good advice on the podcast about this.

4) This seems to be the issue with what I am finding/looking at now.

 This was my thought as well.  We will get more aggressive as we go, but starting somewhere NOW is the idea instead of waiting until I have it all figured out.

@Tom Parris, I love the idea of taking a house that is badly outdated (90s) and updating it to be current.  There are a lot of unknowns on the cost/benefit of it.  I would have to watch it very closely to make sure I don't end up losing on the deal.

What I have found is that often they are asking too much for the houses that need updating.  Why would I pay the same for something that is beautifully updated as one that needs to be completely remodeled?  I believe this is where I might find my deals though.  Watching for a house that has been on the market 2-6 months because they are asking too much.  It is harder to negotiate and will take more offers, but could pay off.

I am in the Tampa area.  Starting my search for our first 'investment' property.  There are so many options it can sometimes be overwhelming so I started by writing out my goals to help narrow my path.

Goals:

1) Create Retirement Income (10-15 years out)

2) Pay properties off in 15 years (probably through rent appreciation)

3) Minimize vacancies and repairs

4) Work with higher quality tenants/families

5) Purchase first rental property in 90 days ($180k-250k)

Based on my goals it seems that Buy and Hold rentals is the definitely the way to go. The BRRR method on these would allow for maximum cash flow. Ideally from what I understand I would want these to be in B class neighborhoods with good school districts. At least a 3/2/2 would be ideal.

As many people are experiencing at the moment the deep discounted deals are not easy to find.  I see a few options and would like some opinions.

1) Pay retail for something that will be a good long term investment (at least breakeven on cashflow).

2) Find something that has a quirk and has been sitting on the MLS for a while (and hope that the quirk isn't too big of a hinderance on my goals above).

3) Attend meetups/network to see if I can find something that would fit that is 'off market'.

I second having a problem getting people to show in Florida.  It amazes me how many people never show up to give a quote, or never call you back after giving you a quote.  There is definitely more work than workers.

the goal of this property would have been to get my feet wet with something solid and through rent increases pay it off in 15 years. Basically turning $60k into $350k in 15 years.

So the results are in.  We did not get the contract.  There were of course multiple bids including cash bids.

Lessons Learned:

 - Cash is King (our equity line should be done in about 3-4 weeks and this will not be a problem next time)

 - The escalation clause is a stroke of brilliance and I look forward to using that again in the future.

 - There are many properties out there, and not getting excited and going over your number is important!

 - While I did not get the contract, we will watch the property and if it comes back on the market be able to make a move.

 - I took steps (baby steps) toward the goal.  I did not get stuck in analysis paralysis.

We put the offer in with a finance contingency.  We might not get it because it wasn't cash, but it was worth a shot.