I have two full time managers in Orlando. They only work for me. I have nothing part time. All of the properties I have in Orlando are tourist rentals. They are all within 10 miles of Disney parks. These are EXTREMELY high maintenance and EXTREMELY profitable. The funny thing about Orlando is that there is money there, but it comes from tourists, not locals. If you are going to compete, you have to offer the tourist and better deal than the hotels. What that means is that you have to give them a LUXURY experience. All my homes there are 3-4 bedrooms. 2-3 baths, 2-3 car garage, and fully and luxuriously furnished, some even have pianos. They have cable, screened pools and spas, daily newspapers, the works. I offer “meet and greet” services at the airport, escort to the property, and on and on. That’s why I have two full time guys. Their wives also do the clean-up at the end of the tousist’s stay.
That is about the only way I know of to make good money in Orlando. Most of the people who can afford an house, do. The others, like Disney’s own employees, can’t
and they live several to an apartment. You can’t make money like that either. Orlando can be a very good investment. But you have to have the money to make the money.
I hear alot about getting into properties:No money down,lease option,flexible seller terms and foreclosers etc., but I would like to get some feedback from investors who have 10-20 or more properties about how you manage a large number investments? Do you do it yourself? Or do you have someone do it for you? How much of your time does the avg single family house take in maintainence, tennent mgt a year etc. Im trying to get a feel for what its like to own 20 units as far as time and energy spent on up keep is concerned.
I own a great many properties and I have learned that one of the worst uses of my time is managing properties. I invest in several states and one of the first things I do in a new area is to interview prospective managers. After I have lined up management, THEN I go and find properties. Management is costing me about 6%-8% of the gross rent. Some much higher (20%) and some a little lower (4.5%-5%) but that’s in the ballpark. What that lets me do is to buy a property and know what the costs will be (all the costs) before I do the deal. The rental companies give me a printout every month with the gross receipts, the expenses, and the amount transferred to my account. NOW, that said, how (you may ask) do you know that a property they classify as vacant really is? How do you know that they aren’t renting it out and pocketing the whole rent? How do you know they are advertising for new tenants like they said they would? Answer: You don’t know without follow-up. I pay them surprise visits. I go and look at the properties. I get copies of newspaper classifieds off the internet and hard copy and look for the ads. If one property stays vacant for more than a month or two, I want to know what the problem is. But there’s only so much you can do. I’m in San Francisco and, among others, I have over 30 houses in Orlando, Florida. If anyone could tell me a fool-proof, fraud-proof way of managing from a distance, I’d sure listen.
Tim, you have raised an issue I am very interested in. For the past month I have had my head in the CS course day and night. I am currently starting to make offers where I live in Northern California, but I have been searching various internet sights and finding properties out of town and even out of state that look quite promising. But I hesitate making any follow ups because I’m afraid it wouldn’t be very cost effective for me to be traveling all over the country looking at prospective properties to possibly end up passing on.
What possess you to buy out of state? Do you stumble across them whhile traveling for other reasons or do you actually make special trips just to inspect them and make offers? Any pointers you can give me would be greatly appriciated. I would love to have properties in many different areas. I feel it would give me a GREAT reason to travel a bit more often.
P.S. Great comments from everyone. This is one of the most helpful bulletin boards I’ve come across. A lot of positive attitude here. Keep it up!!
I live in Orlando and have great credit. I have no debt and I would be willing to assist you in managing your properties if you would give me priceless advice in getting started. I have just finished the course, but i am worried about ruining my current credit standing.