All Forum Posts by: Eric Odum

Hi @Debbie Meteraud.  Have you decided which areas and types of assets you are going to buy?  Good luck on your efforts.  You are in the right place for info!

  I would imagine the difference between many Florida markets and Argentina is many Florida markets are transient and hospitality based.  People come from somewhere else and if they lose their jobs are most likely headed somewhere else.  There is less concern for what people think about them, because they are on to their next gig and town.  I don't know if Florida has higher rates of eviction than the rest of the US, but the laws definitely favor the landlord, relatively speaking, and allow a fairly quick eviction.  I am not sure that makes you feel better, but it is something pretty significant on the owner's side.  

I agree with @Gino Barbaro . Lots of people make good money on SFR's but if you can buy ....say, 20 units of MF or more, you have less roofs, 1 landscape, all the units are together, etc. It is a lot easier to manage.

The important thing is pick and area that you like...an asset class that you like...and put your heard down and do it.  Most wannabe investors get stuck in paralysis of analysis and are always chasing the next shiny object.  It's tough to be successful with that strategy as you are always learning rather than doing.

What is your realtor doing to screen?  Doing a credit check is only part of the deal.  You really need to delve in to what the tenant's rental history has been...even with proper due diligence...life happens.  

@Justin Cabral What are your goals? Cash flow? Value add? pretty much every market in Florida provides higher CAP rates than S Flo, but there are significant differences in economy and access to capital. (you get what you pay for, in other words) So Fl is considered a core market now to many of the institutional guys, so that rolls down hill and puts pressure on all asset classes and sizes. If are more interested in cash flow than capital appreciation, you can still find decent deals the tertiary markets in Central Florida (Polk, Pasco, etc) ....I don't think finding deals anywhere is easy, though. It is tough slog.

Tampa is a strange market at the moment.  Where are you looking?  S Tampa is near impossible to find deals.  But the further you get from the epicenter of S Tampa the more deals available.  

Richard Jacobson is a friend of mine and what you are asking for is exactly what he does.

No need to be in the same city.  He can handle anything you need in the State.  

You are not going to find a safer semi-urban, mature area than Old North East, Coffee Pot Bayou area.  Anything south of that University Village Publix downtown gets dicey real fast, though.  1 mile makes a huge difference in St Pete.  

Thanks for the mention @Colin G Murphy. @Miguel Dormany, Colin is right you can still find 10% on class C-D properties in the area, but they are not dropping from the sky.  Class C+ and better...not likely....it is very tough.  

My 2 cents, there are still areas in Tampa that make sense, depending on where you want to be and in what asset class.  But, the pickings have become really slim.  Investors are having to look for value a lot harder than 2 years ago.  

We like Jax. The CAP's run slightly higher than Tampa. Average rents are a little lower. Jax is a forgotten market. There is not much flashy about it. But, it seems to continue to kick out working class jobs at a rate above Tampa, but not as robust as So Fl. On the investment side, Tampa tends to lag So Fl in the investment cycle and Jax lags Tampa. We are seeing increasing numbers of investors from So Fl creep in to our market, trying to escape the frothy market down there....I am sure Jax is experiencing the same. In fact, We are trying to fine MF deals in Duval now similar to what we were buying in Tampa last year.