Want to buy investment property (Ocala, Alachua: for sale, real estate, rental)

[jkwing]

My wife and I want to retire in Ocala. Not retiring for about 10 years though.
What we want to do is buy a small house maybe around 1200 square feet.
I looked on Realtor dot com and see there are many 2 bdrm 2 bath homes in the area for around 35,000 to 50,000.
Can you recommend an area of Ocala, where we could pick up one of the inexpensive houses, then rent it out for about 10 years before we retire.

[dontaskwhy]

You may want to consider purchasing a home in the SW Marion along the Hwy 200 corrider. There are several retirement communities; some of which are Oak Run, Pine Run, On Top of The World, Spruce Creek Reserve. I am a local realtor in Ocala and can offer assistance. Don't hesitate to send a private message if I can help you.

[jkwing]

My wife and I plan to do a weekend trip to Ocala maybe in Nov or Dec.
The idea is to find a place where we will not have to put much into fixing it up, but rather be able to set it up for a rental right away.
We will need some help in locating a property that will suite our needs when we retire and is of good enough shape now to be able to rent fairly easily.
Not looking to make money on the rental part, just want to keep the house in good shape so when we retire it is ready for us.
We will be putting somewhere between 10 and 20 percent down and looking to looking to stay around the under 50k range
I know I don't want to end up in a subdivision that has an HOA fee, as when we retire, we wont want to pay that fee.

[dontaskwhy]

I sent you a direct, private message for you to review.

[Hartwick]

Let me say upfront that I am not a realtor. I've read your posts and you definitely need a realtor to guide you through your search process. You tell them what you are looking for, price ranges, no HOA fees, square footage, age of potential properties, etc., and then the Realtor will do a computer search of the Marion County and Citrus County MLS books to find you a list of potential homes.

As a fairly new resident here, and just having gone through a similar experience to your's, an experienced Realtor was just invaluable. He knew the good investment areas, the investment traps, the deadbeat builders, areas with and without HOA fees and what and who you get without HOA fees, the good, the bad and the ugly home developments in the areas. Without such guidance, you're just going to waste time and money, and perhaps make a poor decision that will come back to haunt you.

You may also wish to consider other counties around Marion such as Citrus County, Alachua County, and others, all of which have differing tax bases, property values, etc.

There are literally thousands of homes down here for sale with lots of bargains...a Realtor will walk you through this process.

One last thing to consider: do you really want a rental property, in an area with no HOA fees??? A rental property can be a nightmare, and then no HOA fees on top to that...when you're ready to retire here it's very likely your rental property will have been trashed long ago, and no HOA is going to be able to do anything about it. Not the best of ideas.

Perhaps a condo on the beach somewhere might be more suitable, but you will still need a Realtor( a good one) to walk you through the rental pitfalls.

Good luck...Marion and Citrus County's are great, safe areas, although a tad expensive with groceries, having to order nearly everything(but food).

[lelephantblonde]

Definitely get setup with a realtor and also spend time on your own driving around. Marion County is big and communities are spread out. You will need time, but there are lots and lots of options for what you are looking for here. Also, a realtor will help you in managing your rental and tenant. Since you can't be here all of the time, you will need someone to keep an eye on things. It will be a nightmare for you to do it on your own.

[jkwing]

Originally Posted by lelephantblonde

Definitely get setup with a realtor and also spend time on your own driving around. Marion County is big and communities are spread out. You will need time, but there are lots and lots of options for what you are looking for here. Also, a realtor will help you in managing your rental and tenant. Since you can't be here all of the time, you will need someone to keep an eye on things. It will be a nightmare for you to do it on your own.

Thanks for the info. My wife and I plan on coming to Ocala in Nov or Dec to do a little looking around. Prior to that we will contact a real estate agent to do some leg work and have some homes for us to see. Once we select a home we will set it up with a property management company to manage for us. The thought of a property that has an HOA fee may be a good idea, at least then there is some expectation of keeping the home up to the standards of the neighborhood