All Forum Posts by: Nick Velez

@Kelly Schroeder

DSCR loans can either be extremely easy or cumbersome compared to conventional loans. This all depends on the market, property type, STR data vs LTR data, ownership experience, and a handful of other variables.

In theory, DSCR loans should be easy but the largest pitfall is how the guidelines vary lender to lender and thus there are a lot of bad actors that make false promises to get you in the door, or they don't fully relay what needs to be done in the background for your loan to be approved. This can lead to dead deals near the finish line and wasted money.

My biggest piece of advice is to work with a reputable loan officer with positive reviews. Searching for the cheapest option on a complicated deal will sadly cost you money. 

I hate VRBO with a passion, their website is clunky and never works, there is zero customer service, and most of my "bad guests" come from there. Granted every market is very different and 95% of my bookings are from Airbnb but the other 5% from VRBO are always a headache. 

A penalty for a guest not being able to check in is reasonable, but concern is what VRBO considers a "reasonable" time. 

@Kyle Alfriend

If you are looking anywhere near Pinellas county, you need to connect with @Josh Green.

I work all throughout the state of Florida and there is no other agent with the road map, resources, and real life data to back up all of his claims regarding his successful recipe for STR's. I have dozens of clients that have purchased STR's with Josh and not only are they cash flowing at or above expectations, they are coming back around to purchase more properties.

Each market has it's own unique criteria to be successful and a market expert with properties of their own is an invaluable resource. 

@Vishal P.

I have clients utilizing our 10% down second home product and they are still cash flowing in markets like Pinellas county and Gainesville Florida. Obviously you need to be more strategic when putting less down but there are plenty of deals to be had. 

The key is working with an agent that owns their own STR's and has a proven track record and system to make properties perform. If you are open to the Pinellas county area, I HIGHLY suggest connecting with @Josh Green. He has several STRs in that market, manages 20+, and is actively investing himself.  I have personally seen dozens of our clients put up amazing cash flow numbers and they are coming back around again to buy more. 

@Alec Strahl

A good portion of your basic LTR's from the MLS won't cash flow in todays environment but if you are willing to be creative, theres an endless amount of ways to still successfully invest. I personally like STR's which will require a bit more cash but one of my properties was still cash flowing with a 10.375% rate. In my local market of Gainesville, I have investors purchasing on market properties near the university and cash flowing with rent by the room models.

Tampa is one of my favorite Florida markets right now and theres plenty of good deals to be had. I would connect with an investor friendly agent like @Josh Green who can run you through all of your options based on your financial position. 

@Jay Daiute

Congrats on taking the first step! To start, you want to figure out what strategy you want to utilize and stick with that. The first deal is really not about getting a home run, but taking action.Learn how to run numbers and once something pops up that fits your buy box, execute on it. 

Another vote for Florida lol. Best part of our market is most of your STR locations have definitive rules already in place.

In my local market of Gainesville, I have 400k properties generating 95k-100k in gross revenue. Clearwater Florida can generate 110k-140k on 600k properties and  have seen equally impressive numbers in other states as well. 

With the current STR market, being better than the competition is a must along with rethinking what makes a successful STR. There are so many battle tested and well known markets where some people are continuing to cash flow, and newbies are barely breaking even.

Having operators in your chosen market that own/manage SUCCESSFUL properties is a must. 

I was able to take advantage of bonus depreciation when it was at 100% and 80%, and it was extremely beneficial for my finances and allowed me to roll tax savings into additional properties. 

@Kyle Badger

Congrats on taking the first step! Your financial position and future goals will dictate what route makes the most sense but in your example, if you want to use the homes equity to continue to buy more real estate, it likely makes the mosts sense to leverage. 

Sure, you might cash flow more if you buy a cheaper property cash (but not always the case), but it is going to take a long time for the cash flow to equate to another down payment. 

I would figure out what strategy you want to utilize and from there decide whether its better to dump the money into one larger property, or a few cheaper properties. Tampa offers a lot of options and I highly suggest you connect with a local expert such as @Josh Green to help you strategize. 

Best of luck!

@Shaun Ortiz

The local town operates around the university and because of that, you have an endless amount of strategies you can utilize when it comes to rentals. There are not many areas in Florida where you can pluck a turn key property off the MLS and cash flow but in Gainesville, you can do so through rent by the room which is a very popular strategy or short term rentals which is what I do.

No town is recession proof but university towns tend to be more resilient as the main driver is not something that relies on discretionary income, which is why I am very bullish long term.