DIY Property in SW FL

I guess I'll start here.. Hi Ben.  Thought I'd share some thoughts since I am getting a bunch of e-mails from the forum here about our area.  We are a firm out of SW Florida and know the micro markets well.  Without getting into too much detail Ben is right.  It is important to find a good property manager.  They are the most important ingredient here.  Although I invest in properties in my own area, I am a terrible property manager admittedly.  I use management services and they make my life easier. 

For those that have e-mailed me about what the difference of the areas are:  Lehigh Acres / Cape Coral / Ft. Myers.  They both hold great upside, but it depends what kind of investor you are.  Ft. Myers is vacation and resort type living.  Proximity to everything including world reknown beaches (Sanibel and Captiva Islands) You can buy a house for $200k and do weekly or monthly rentals during our tourist months.  ROI's are a little lower, about 6-7%, however most buy for the cheap prices, low expenses and speculation that prices will go up much higher in next 5 years.  Out of all micro markets in the county, this is probably true.  Class A Type

Cape Coral home prices are about 30-40% less than Ft. Myers homes.  Cape Coral is a very nice area.  Tons of waterfront.  We are seeing a lot of foreign nationals buying second homes as well as income properties here.  ROI for a single family home is about 9.5% on annual rentals.  Homes are newer, proximity and convenience is good and weather/amenities you can't beat.  Class B Type. 

Lehigh Acres: Real Estate is about 30% less than Cape Coral and about 75% less than Ft. Myers.  Rental rates are very high which are pushing up prices currently.  There has been a migration shift to Lehigh as cost of living is cheaper and proximity and location is just as good as other areas of town.  2 family homes (duplexes) are most popular.  I don't know many areas of Australia and I don't think Australians on this forum know too much about FL so if I can compare Lehigh Acres to a U.S area, I would compare it to Queens, NY?  Do you guys know Queens?  There are really good areas and not so good areas.  If you are on the "right side of the tracks", you can find yourself a great investment opportunity.  The more rural you get the worse.  We stay away from those areas.  Low prices, high cash flow and very minimal tenant problems.  ROI for duplexes 13% and single family homes about 10%.  Class C Type.

There are really no "surprises" or "gotchas".  Not that I can think of anyway.  Oh!  If you buy from us or from whoever, google "Chinese Drywall".  You don't want it and there are plenty of negligent agents in town that will entice an investor with a cheap price and sell them a home with chinese drywall.  If you buy a house for regular market value, you can cut your value by about 80% if you buy a home built with chinese drywall.  We inspect all of our properties and the first thing we look for is defective drywall.  It is actually quite easy to determine.  It's nasty stuff.

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Saw this video a long time ago.  It does certainly portray Lehigh in a negative light.  However this video was shot in 2007 I believe which is when the crash was at its worse.  Builders walked away from jobs, defaults were at high levels and crime was up.  Crime was predominantly theft.  Empty homes = vulnerabiilty.  Those that didn't have jobs would steal appliances, copper, etc and scrap them in.  My own mentality at the time wasn't positive for the real estate market.

Since this video was shot, I would challenge the maker of this video to answer the question as to where Lehigh is today, 3-4 years later.  REO's are dwindling.  Rental demand is at the highest levels in years and investors / owners of these homes are cleaning them up.  Sure, Lehigh isn't Sanibel Island.  Never was intended to be but it offers lower cost of living which is what a lot of former homeowners are looking for.  Crime is way down, population is up.

So to be as short as possible, I agree with this video…..4 years ago… Today, far different.  A simple drive thru of the area will show.  They are not construction massive infrastructure in Lehigh today for nothing.  This video is outdated big time

Medical, Retail, Sports, Tourism…THere is a thriving medical industry.  New out-patient VA hospital just opened, etc…

The Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox each bring in about $100 million in revenue every year.  That is about to increase with the new Red Sox stadium.  $103 million stadium is currently under construction.  Maybe this link helps: Lee County

Major League Baseball is not dumb.  They don't approve for spring training facilities unless they know the public will pay for their revenues in a huge way.  Lee County was depressed, but is not the boonies.

This area is not desolate.  That clip of YouTube has circulated several times over the years and anyone in real estate will tell you that is outdated.  It's the very worse of the worst during the worst economic times.