I give you my 4 reasons why Lakeland is Florida’s best kept secret when it comes to real estate investing.
Video Transcription:
Hey, what’s going on everyone. I’m David Quinones The Lakeland Realtor. And in this video, I’m going to give you my four reasons why I believe Lakeland is Florida’s best market for real estate investing.
So when it comes to real estate, investing Florida is usually at the top of most people’s lists. There is no state income tax. There’s a great range of properties to invest in, but that focus usually lies in Florida’s major hubs of Tampa, Orlando and Miami. Now in this video, I want to give you my reasons why I feel Lakeland is the best kept secret, when it comes to real estate investing.
Reason number one is: Growth. Polk county was ranked number one in net migration compared to all Florida counties. That beat out Orange county, Hillsborough county and Miami Dade county. Lakeland was also ranked number seven in the U S news’ fastest growing US cities. Now, why is growth important? As an investor growth means higher rental rates as well as home appreciation. So you want to see your investment grow right along with it.
Number two is: Barrier to Entry. In Lakeland, our median sales price is $260,000. When you compare that to Orlando at $305,000, or even Tampa at $345,000, it’s much easier to get started investing in the Lakeland market. You can see your dollars will go a little bit further in Lakeland.
The third reason is: job diversity. When investing, you don’t want to invest in a market that has only one major employer, because if they happen to go out of business or relocate your rental rates and your home values are going to go down. Now, Lakeland has made a huge effort to be able to attract jobs of all kinds. These are big national brands coming in, such as Amazon, as well as local growth. We’ve seen over 30 million square feet of new buildings being built in Lakeland, as well as adding over 1700 new jobs in 2021.
The fourth and final reason why I believe Lakeland is the best kept secret for real estate investing is because of Balance. When it comes to investing, there are really two main drivers; cashflow and appreciation. Most markets only let you focus on one or the other. So for example, if you’re going to buy in Miami, where these property values are so high, it’s usually for appreciation. You hold on to the property and then a few more years, it’s going to be worth even more. Now, if you invest in a smaller market like Jacksonville or Tallahassee, you might see really great cashflow where you’re making a lot on those monthly rentals. Lakeland is that sweet spot between the two. There are still plenty of rental properties that are cash flowing the 1% rule, which I know you real estate investors love, but also seeing huge appreciation for the reasons I listed earlier. There’s plenty of job growth as well as population growth for the year.
So there you go. Those are my four reasons why I believe Lakeland is Florida’s number one market when it comes to real estate investing. Now, if you’ve considered, starting to invest within Lakeland, the first thing you got to do though, is give me a call. I’ll help you find the perfect property so you can get started investing in Lakeland today.