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Old 04-14-2010, 11:46 PM
 
Location: Tampa
16 posts, read 25,593 times
Reputation: 16

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Hi everyone, I'm from Gainesville, I'll start a PhD at USF and I need to buy a house to stop wasting money on rent (I'll pay cash so no money thrown out of the window in mortgage interest either).
I also wanna get an extra income by renting out the other rooms, of course it's easier to find students but I don't care if I have professionals to rent my rooms as long as I find someone to provide me the money.
I know that there are some bad areas around USF so I focused on Carrollwood, Temple Terrace, Tampa Palms, Lutz. The problem I have is that I need a place that can be easily rented but I don't wanna buy a condo in those students communities close to USF where I have to pay $350/month of HOA fees, cause it would erase any benefit of having a lessee. Do you have any suggestion about the area I should look for?
Please, I need advices. Thanks
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Old 04-15-2010, 11:44 AM
 
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How much cash have you for a house?

Note that many municipalities limit the number of unrelated residents per unit.
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Old 04-15-2010, 11:56 AM
 
Location: Tampa
16 posts, read 25,593 times
Reputation: 16
Thank you, I didn't know about the municipalities, do you know where I can find which ones do that?
For cash I can spend 90-100 K, I'm looking for 3 bedrooms but can settle for 2, just kinda scared of getting a condo, they're value is going down so bad and i don't think can go up again that much
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Old 04-15-2010, 12:42 PM
 
Location: Myrtle Beach
3,381 posts, read 9,084,012 times
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Maybe you should look into purhcasing a duplex. It's going to cost more than what you have on hand for cash though. You are going to have a very hard time finding a 3BD home for $100K and under.
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Old 04-15-2010, 01:16 PM
 
Location: Beautiful Pinellas County
1,466 posts, read 3,062,539 times
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not a hard time finding a home in that price range, just a hard time finding a home in that price range in the usf area. farther north up veterans or out in north tampa/pasco you will I think.
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Old 04-15-2010, 01:38 PM
 
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I like your thinking as I've just done similar but later in life. I didn't take to early retirement so I'm going back to school for a third career at 53. Got some property nearby good for bringing in a housemate for both income & company plus for renting out another house here (& possibly a future third) & for cultivating a garden that will make Busch Gardens jealous (hardly, but I can dream). For now I plan on this being my final house as it is close enough to downtown for playing and real close for me now to the conveniences of the university which I love; and, for much later in life, also close to all the medical complexes which most people need in their 80s & 90s (I've a lot of long-lifers in the family).

For buying short term, however, if that is your plan, I think you can pretty much forget cap gains in either a house or a condo, though as you can buy for cheaper than renting now and as you have the money, then it might work out well enough if things don't tank from here.

There are some real nice looking apartments over by I-75 and Fletcher which can be had for around $50k but as you said, the fees are not attractive when considering the place for income. Plus, I believe that fees will only increase, especially as insurance goes up and so many are still for sale, reducing the pool of payers into those associations. Also, the number of foreclosures among them are scary.

There could be a quick bump up (not back to bubble of course but back up to normal, at least) in potential cap gains were foreclosures to ever sell out of the market, but it looks like they will continue & possibly increase over the next few years.

Here's a good example of attractive but scary...

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/12906-Sanctuary-Cove-Dr--303_Temple-Terrace_FL_33637_1104513419?mp=1

This is a new 2/2 asking $54,900. Fees are probably at least $250/month (now; we don't know about later). You could rent out a room for probably around $500 utilities included.

So say you get it for $50k. County appraises at $40k. Taxes on that at $300/year plus $250/month association fees plus interior insurance (guessing $500/year?) so expenses of about 3800/year with income of $6,000 assuming you can rent for a solid 12 months (I'd only count on 11 max or 10 for students) gets you about max 4.4% on your money plus you live rent free. Not too shabby but you can do better. And of course there's that pricey fright factor.

According to realtytrac.com, there are about 300 units in there which are distressed, probably about the entire complex.

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy30/housingcrashsurvivor/fletcher-i75-distressed.jpg (broken link)

So guess who might wind up paying all those association fees on the empty units?

I am not familiar with all the rules of all the cities. I know my south Florida property is allowed five and my property near USF is allowed 3 per house. Though I'd love to see two gay couples take that to court.

Also I'd like to see taken to court unrelated people in a large house. It is outrageous to me that a city would try to confine an owner of a five bedroom house from only having 3 unrelated people living in it. I find it to be both a waste of resources and an infringement upon freedom which does not interfere with another's enjoyment of their property. Sure, 10 cars parking outside my neighbor's house every day would get me upset. But if they had 10 bedrooms, then I should have expected that upon buying.

But back to what single family's available at your price range. I'm not familiar with Carrollwood or Lutz so I leave that for someone else's suggestions. Just about anywhere you find in New Tampa is going to be a "good area" as far as I know, but know that there are also a ton of foreclosures there, relative to density. I do not see a single one there on realty.com under $100k but you might find REOs there at your price.

Here's a Temple Terrace one for you to consider

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/6112-E-110Th-Ave_Tampa_FL_33617_1115228080?mp=1

or if you don't mind a fairly bizzy road http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4832-Temple-Terrace-Hy_Tampa_FL_33617_1115311475?mp=1

also in TT many people will tell you to avoid south of Fowler/W of 56th area but I've biked thru there many times and I don't see the problem. There are many here you could consider such as
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/10601-52Nd-St_Tampa_FL_33617_1111124466?mp=1

Be aware also that in buying low, you probably also pay for the previous owner's deferred maintenance, new roof, upgrading kitchens, etc., and that can get costly.

Last edited by housingcrashsurvivor; 04-15-2010 at 01:47 PM..
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Old 04-15-2010, 01:57 PM
 
Location: Tampa
16 posts, read 25,593 times
Reputation: 16
Wow thanks, that's the type of calculations that I am trying to make and I didn't think about evaluating the number of distressed properties in the surroundings, that's smart.
The only thing that is unclear to me at this point is what exactly you pay with HOA fees, if it doesn't even cover insurance. Does it depend on the community?
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Old 04-15-2010, 03:11 PM
 
1,500 posts, read 3,314,429 times
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HOA generally covers insurance on the structure and flood if required but you should still have insurance for your interior, for your belongings, for liability, just in case a gator comes to visit and falls off drunk from your balcony.

Sometimes it also covers your water use and even basic cable, as well as grounds & pool maintenance, trash, etc. So you still pay your own taxes on your unit and some but not all insurance, electric of course & possibly water & sewer depending on the set up of the complex's system.

HOA is also collected to maintain a future improvements fund, which, if lacking, will then require mandatory assessments (extra payments) from unit owners for items like reroofing, restriping & paving, lobby renovations, pool resurfacing, etc. So make sure you know the solvency of the association as those items can get pricey and sudden assessments can come as quite a shock to unprepared property owners. Sometimes the condo will take out an overall loan for the work and then finance individual owners if need be.

As an aside, I started at USF then went to G-ville back in the 70s/80s, then a few other schools now back to USF 30plus years later. It isn't that I'm smart; it is that I'm a slow learner.

PS, It really is sickly amazing. You just have to turn blindfolded and throw a dart behind your back and yer gonna hit some nonsense. That 2/2 i picked at random on realtor.com sold in 2006 for a supposed price of $242,100. (I say supposed because I don't believe any of this any more, particularly when the comps were selling for around $100k at that time.) By 2008 it was assessed at $156 & by 2009 at $118k. The county currently assesses it at 37,709. The taxes for 2009 was about $2,300. So I guess taxes in 2010 could be just 10% of that given homestead. Sure hope the county hasn't spent all that money yet.

Last edited by housingcrashsurvivor; 04-15-2010 at 03:47 PM..
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Old 04-15-2010, 03:21 PM
 
Location: Tampa
16 posts, read 25,593 times
Reputation: 16
ahah it's more likely i'll go back to gainesville and get drunk that viceversa, jokes aside I just don't wanna pay for useless interventions like the ones that I see in my complex but if it includes insurance on structure and flood it may become a decent deal

Hope you had good time like in me in Gator Nation, thanks again for the info
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Old 04-15-2010, 03:49 PM
 
1,500 posts, read 3,314,429 times
Reputation: 1230
You're very welcomed. And yes, I had a great time in G-ville. But then, I usually figure out how to get into trouble, um, I mean, have some fun regardless of where I find myself.

Good luck in your endeavors.
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