All Forum Posts by: Timothy Lewis

I know this could be very dangerous so I'm not recommending it as a blanket statement, but I started going outside and taking a pic of the license plate of each car parked on the street in front of the neighboring problem property.  I would text it to the sheriff deputy I was in contact with.  "Customers" would see me and it got a lot quieter, especially since a lot of these people have warrants, are on parole, are using borrowed cars or cars with lapsed registration etc.  I guess they found a more accommodating location to use.  

I would use discretion in your case but find a way to let them know the neighborhood cares instead of pretending not to see anything.  

I also found the owner of the property's address and wrote her a letter.  She apparently had no idea all this stuff was going on and helped become communicative with the police as well.  

You have so much support on this site, no questions are dumb. Let them rip!

@Jeff Scully it is very unlikely that you will be able to cashflow at all with a 1/1 condo/apartment in South Florida at that price point. The numbers won't make sense and you will likely be in the red. Also, in terms of short term rentals, a lot of HOA's prohibit them. If that is something you plan to do, just make sure that you verify that it's allowed. In terms of conventional financing, there are some intracacies involved with condo financing. Check with a lender but you may end up having to put down 25% if the association is not FHA or Fannie May approved. See below link for approved Miami-Dade Condos:

Approved Condo List - Miami-Dade County

It sounds like you may be leaning toward South Florida more for personal preference and the desire to use the unit as a vacation property as opposed to it being a solid first time investment. Just make sure that if you do purchase something, you know what you are getting into. Bigger Pockets has a great rental property calculator under the tools tab at the top of the screen (desktop version). You should be able to accurately crunch all of your numbers there. Best of luck!