All Forum Posts by: Stetson Miller

@James Lanier I would recommend Ian Voakes with Voakes Construction, I can send you his contact information if interested

@Jonathan Van Dyke Is it possible to use non-impact rated windows? Pricing for those is going to be roughly half of what impact rated windows will cost, so that's a significant saving there. Property value often isn't affected by this either, only insurance pricing, but there's other much more cost-effective ways to get that insurance credit if that was a concern

I'm assuming this is for an LTR, not seasonal or STR, correct? If so, I would highly recommend Royal Palm Property Management

@Sorel Mizzi Your best long-term option would be rezoning for residential and subdividing, but this is far from the most cost effective option, so it's going to depend on how much work you're willing to put into it

What is the property currently zoned for? There's a few local zoning codes that already allow agriculture in addition to other light commercial uses, so that would be the ideal scenario if you were already zoned for something that could produce a higher cash flow. Otherwise, if your only option would be rezoning, you might as well target the zoning that allows the highest income potential for the property to start out with

@Linda Weiner The propane heating option is something I've seen many people in Naples do with larger pools and they are all very happy with the results. One thing I would recommend before going through with that though would be to contact a pool company who does solar installations and see what temperature gains you could expect on a pool your size. There's a chance that it may still be sufficient for the temperatures that we see over the winter here and could end up saving you a ton of money in the long run

@Brooke Phun Whether it is a good idea or not is certainly subjective, but in my opinion, it absolutely is! From an objective perspective, cash flow is decent, market appreciation is very solid and predictable, and the demand for short term rentals in this area is growing rapidly

As mentioned above, you do have a few restrictions to take into account when purchasing in Naples, specifically, but these are easy to navigate as long as you know what to look for. Good luck and keep us updated on whether you decide to proceed or not!

@Robert Szigeti It's definitely not fun dealing with issues like this!

Just to add on to a few things that @Brad S. mentioned above from a local Florida perspective though:

-I've never seen an appraiser add an adjustment for a heated/cooled Florida room. Although this could add appeal to certain buyers, you're really not affecting the appraisal value of the property at all, only the potential demand upon resale or rental advertisement

-If you were able to have the Florida room considered as standard heated/cooled square footage of the home, this is where the value could potentially come in. Although your first appraiser is correct in protocol and he has the documentation to support this, it's very difficult to get appraisers to consider additional square footage that doesn't match what's listed on tax records. The difficult but sure way around this issue would be to have a county appraiser visit the property and decide if they want to consider the additional square footage of the added heated/cooled space. If they do and they update the tax records to show this, then you would have a clear shot at having the full square footage considered in a bank appraisal

One other thing to note is that the banks contract a third party AMC (Appraisal Management Company), who then hires the appraiser to perform the inspection and complete the report. The bank has very little to no leverage against the actual appraiser to have changes made to their initial report. So, when they say there's not much they can do to help you fight this battle, they really mean it. When they have you fill out a change form stating all the known errors on the report you received, they simply send this back to the appraiser and ask them to reconsider based on your suggestions. Unfortunately, unless there's a blatant mistake on the report, your chances of having your suggestions truly considered by the appraiser are pretty close to zero

Good luck with all of this, keep us updated!

@Shane M. What is your total budget that you're working with? The prices you're describing seeing in your area are pretty similar to what we're experiencing down here as well. One option I would recommend, if you're able to owner occupy the property for a year, is an FHA 203K loan. This will allow you to purchase the property and rehab with a much lower down payment option

In response to the post above, @Kristina Kuba is correct in that there is not a growing tech industry in Fort Myers, and there likely never will be due to our proximity to larger hubs such as Tampa and Miami. However, growth in this area is highly supported by other massively growing sectors such as the tourism, service, construction, and medical industries. Growth has largely stabilized in this area, but to say that this year's past growth is completely unsupported just because we don't have a growing tech sector would be false. The lower sold count year over year is also directly proportional to supply, so that's another metric that I personally would not give much weight to in my consideration for an investment market

Hi @Brad Caudle,

These lots have appreciated significantly in recent months, but Zillow often isn't a great way to gauge an accurate value. Depending on the area, a half acre lot is likely worth much more than ~$5,000, but that would be completely dependent upon the proximity to shopping, restaurants, the commute time back into Fort Myers and surrounding cities, etc. Yearly taxes for a property like this, depending on the value, are likely pretty negligent, so I would certainly recommend proceeding with the probate filings to ensure that you're ready to sell when the right time comes

@Steven Hauser These units have shown very strong appreciation in line with averages that we're seeing in the area as a whole. They are fairly liquid, but there is a smaller buyer pool for properties with this many restrictions for personal use, so they do tend to sit on the market a bit longer compared to other nearby condos. It is usual for these units to be listed with past year's performance numbers, so I would be happy to share those for any current/recent listings if you're interested!