Buying a small house to rent out in FM -- wacky or wise? (Fort Myers: low income, lease)

[jmqueen]

Hubby and I have our house here in Connecticut on the market. The second we get that banker's check, we are outta here for some warm Florida living. (She says, shading her eyes against the blinding, yet somehow chilly, sunshine reflected off the foot of snow outside the window …)

We want to take a little time to look for a home though we are already familiar with the areas we're thinking of moving to -- somewhere in Port Charlotte/North Port/Punta Gorda. In the meantime, we'll need a place to stay, and that's the problem, because A. We have three cats; B. We want it for less than a year and B. My husband wants to set up shop ASAP sharpening tools for tradesmen.

So I got the brilliant (?) idea to buy a small, cheap (> $50K) older home with a garage that we can stand to live in for a few months, then, when we find our permanent home, rent it out for a little extra income. There seem to be a ton of these properties in FM. I have two concerns:

1. My FIL, who until recently owned and rented out a bunch of trailers and other similar homes in Fort Myers before he moved back up here, says it's easy to rent out properties in Florida. Is that true? I'd hate to be left holding an unrentable property in a slow market.

2. Also, what neighborhoods should I avoid? FIL & MIL gave us a couple of ideas, but I wanted to see if any realtors have any thoughts. It's not that I mind folks of other ethnicities, but I worry that some of them might mind having me as a neighbor, white bread that I am.

[Kim in FL]

1) yes, you can find trailers in Scumcoast in N Fort Myers and you can find some in Fort Myers as well...but do you really want to live there? As for renting out a trailer you won't get much a month for it and you're tenants will be low income and most have bad credit...are you willing take the risk?

2)The only areas you'll find houses in that price range are in the areas you won't want to live for any length of time and the renting situation would be the same as Scumcoast.

If you're renting with a charitable heart, go for it because you won't come ahead and your expectations wont be so high.. If you're renting with a business heart, double you budget and attract better tenants. You have to decide what type of tenant you want and then buy a place off of that.


Dont' waste your time talking to a realtor...they won't tell you anything about an area...they'll sell you a meth house in East Fort Myers with a huge smile on their face as long as they get their money at closing.

[jmqueen]

I don't want to buy a trailer, though that was the business my FIL was in and my uncle-in-law is still in. Yep, Suncoast. Not my cup of tea. But FIL has also bought, sold and rented small houses in his day, too.

Anyway, what about places like these?

3268 Willin Street, Fort Myers FL - Trulia

3764 Lora Street, Fort Myers FL - Trulia

[Kim in FL]

Originally Posted by jmqueen

I don't want to buy a trailer, though that was the business my FIL was in and my uncle-in-law is still in. Yep, Suncoast. Not my cup of tea. But FIL has also bought, sold and rented small houses in his day, too.

Anyway, what about places like these?

3268 Willin Street, Fort Myers FL - Trulia

3764 Lora Street, Fort Myers FL - Trulia

I've got one word for ya...ghetto. If you're going for ghetto then you're on your way, but if you want decent, clean cut tenants, up your budget (so you can afford a nicer area) and rent to your heart's content.

Both of these areas are low income, full of drugs and crime.

[fiege1224]

The day of 50,000 to 85,000 in a half decent area you would want to own are long gone. That was 2009 and 2010. Those houses are 100,000 to 150,000 now. Good luck.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by jmqueen

I don't want to buy a trailer, though that was the business my FIL was in and my uncle-in-law is still in. Yep, Suncoast. Not my cup of tea. But FIL has also bought, sold and rented small houses in his day, too.

Anyway, what about places like these?

3268 Willin Street, Fort Myers FL - Trulia

3764 Lora Street, Fort Myers FL - Trulia

Don't get anymore ghetto then those two locations.

I'm originally from New England, our hood looks far different than the Florida ones. On the face of it, the house might look modest but okay. It's not. Like everyone else said, you aren't going to find anything decent - where you won't have to deal with vouchers, non-payment, damage, crack, meth, prostitutes, a revoloving door and the cops - you are going to have to pay more money for it. Those type of homes, normal people avoid.

[jmqueen]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Don't get anymore ghetto then those two locations.

I'm originally from New England, our hood looks far different than the Florida ones. On the face of it, the house might look modest but okay. It's not. Like everyone else said, you aren't going to find anything decent - where you won't have to deal with vouchers, non-payment, damage, crack, meth, prostitutes, a revoloving door and the cops - you are going to have to pay more money for it. Those type of homes, normal people avoid.

That's an interesting point, thanks so much. I always use the street view and scroll around to see the surrounding neighborhood, too. All I see are well-groomed lawns and late model cars in driveways, and like you said, that looks to a New Englander like a modest but safe area. Interesting to learn that it's just not what it seems.

Thanks all, I'm going to have to rethink our plans. Any thoughts on where such houses might in fact be OK? Smaller towns like North Port or even Port Charlotte? Where do nice lower-income people live?

[MikeP]

Maybe try Punta Gorda and North Fort Myers. You'll still need to be careful but there are safe, cheap areas in both. Tropical gulf acres between PG and NFM is very inexpensive. I've never lived there but it seems like a safe quiet area. It's kind of seems to be in the middle of no where, but it's not far from either town. Good luck

[nomoresnow]

You might want to try one of the 55+ gated communities like Pine Lakes (where I live), Lake Fairways, etc. They're not as bad as some of the posters believe. The houses themselves are currently going for a song (they're manufactured homes) but make sure you ask about lot rent (many are on leased land) and any other pass on or pass through charges. Homes are quickly rented out here during the season, typically for 3-5 months. Some even rent year round, but that's rare.

Best of luck.

[jmqueen]

Thank you so much, folks. I'll refocus my search, thanks to you kind posters. I'm not used to the idea of something so, well, extravagant, for me, to consider being a landlord. So you're taking some of the nervousness out of it all.