All Forum Posts by: Nick C.

The area just west of N Tampa St has some fantastic houses. Many of the large old bungalows have been fixed up by investors. That is an area I would absolutely buy in. It's walking distance to the river development. East of N Tampa St isn't anywhere near as nice. 

@Billy Au-Yeung Here's my not so simple answer to a simple question: 33602 is great north of Columbus Dr and west of North Blvd. It's okay east of North Blvd. It's not as good east of Florida Ave. Overall it's a good area for appreciation, the city is dumping a lot of $$$ into the area just northwest of downtown by the river. Tampa has good pockets and bad pockets, you really need to narrow your target areas down by neighborhood, not zip code. Most zip codes in Tampa are a convoluted mess of good and bad areas.

This is far from all encompassing, but a quick rule of thumb is stay away from anything south of downtown. South St Pete is where the majority of the crime is. 

Clearwater is an odd area, I'd stay away from downtown. 

I would live in St Pete, anywhere along the beach is obviously nice, as is Historic Kenwood and Old Northeast. Also anything towards the bay, Shore Acres, Snell Isle, etc.

How much is it listed for? 222 days is a long time if the sellers are motivated. If they're retiring landlords perhaps they have rent rolls, it would be good to ask for that to get more accurate rent numbers, as well as bed/bath configurations. 

It'd probably worth calling to get some more accurate numbers to work with.

Zillow is garbage. They make money by selling ads to Realtors, not by being accurate. 

From what I understand Realtor.com is just a few days behind the MLS, I'd trust them over Zillow.

Congratulations!

David feel free to email anything you get in Tampa over to me: [email protected]

I wouldn't risk it. The only way to keep rentals is to run them as a business, not a philanthropy.

I look forward to the time in my life when I can give back like this, but it won't be when there's a mortgage payment due every month.

If you've done 15 houses this is more than a hobby for you. It would be beneficial to just get a license. No matter how good of a realtor you find, no one is going to care as much about your success as you do. 

Student loans are the new housing bubble. The only thing unethical is how much these schools are charging for tuition. It's out of control. The only difference is you can't walk away from student loans like you could a mortgage. You're paying it back anyway, good for you for using it to invest in your future. 

The real estate property you buy will teach you more valuable lessons in a year than you'll learn in 4 years of higher education anyway.