Miranda Nicol's Blog Posts

Are you thinking about buying or selling this year? You may find it helpful to review these key data points.  Here are the answers to the biggest questions I get around our market:·;&

Rising insurance costs have been the number one concern from homeowners and those considering investing in Florida.  While we have seen increases, the insurance market continues to improve, and

What’s new in real estate and what will happen in 2025?  The Florida market is now walking after running in 2021 and the years following. Here are a few insights that may be helpful if

PRE-PURCHASE HOMEWORKSo you want to buy a short term rental.  It is fun to go out and look at property but first there is some homework to do that will save both you and I time, and a purchase

If you currently own or are thinking about buying or selling a condo this is the update for you.  There are many reasons people buy condos and they can be a great second home, vacation rental or

If you’re looking at Florida to buy or sell real estate and listening to national news you may be led to act, or not to act, based on false information.  It’s no wonder people are

In April I took the opportunity to renovate the other house on my property. It was not really planned this way, but the tenant I had decided not to renew the lease, so it seemed like the right time.

I purchased a bungalow just over a year ago in order to start a short-term rental business in St Augustine. My sweet yellow house was built about 100 years ago in the traditional vernacular style of

After more than two months into my renovation, there are certainly plenty of things I still want to do, however it is a dramatic difference from what it was in January.  I purchased the

Flippers, if you don’t know about the Fix and Flip loan, this is a loan you may want to consider if you’ve done one or more projects.  This loan does not consider your debt to income ratio,

If you are buying a home or land in Florida one of the questions you’ll want to ask is what is the flood zone.  Florida is a great place to live, but yes we do have weather events and

I’ve learned so much since buying Casa Lovett in January.  Downtown St Augustine has hundreds of short term rentals and the competition is fierce.  There are a lot of new

Top 10 Tips to SUPERCHARGE your STR Michael Kluger from LUX STA Vacation Rentals joined our investor Zoom call last week to cover the state of the market.  Click here to

After buying land myself, I have been investigating all options.  With building costs at an all-time high, coupled with supply delays, I wondered, could a modular home company be just as good a

When you think of real estate investing, you might think of Airbnb, single family homes and multifamily, but what if you want to make more money and have more to invest?  Let me give you an

You may already know I’m pretty excited about the evolution of West Augustine.  This is the area of St Augustine near West King St and Highway 1. In August last year, I purchased

Drastically increase your buying power and build immediate equity.  New Loan limits on multifamily homes are a gamechanger. Parents listen up! I wish I would have known this when I was

If you’re thinking about getting into short term rentals, or if you’ve just purchased one, here are my lessons learned so far.  In 5 short weeks my little bungalow has had 18 nights of

Who wouldn’t want to get 6-13% or more for their home?  How about 40% less days on the market?  According to the St Johns County Board of Realtors; The average home that is staged is

Last week I bought a short-term rental!  Read below to see why this made sense, but first I want to correct the noise in the media about Airbnbs not making it and this whole sector being a bad

I’ve done it and so have my clients.  If you haven’t heard of a DSCR loan this is a game changer.  The DSCR (or Debt Service Coverage Ratio) qualifies you for a loan based on the gross

Why are so many getting into real estate investing?  Does every wealthy person you know own real estate?  Real estate has always been a tried and true avenue for investing.  The

Many people I’ve talked to lately are frustrated by the increasing costs of insurance, and rightly so.  This has crept up over the past few years and have impacted mortgage payments and

Get my vetted list of preferred vendors by clicking below!  Spring is a great time to maintain your biggest assets.  I highly recommend a property inspection as a place to start. 

City of St Augustine I recently had a pre-permit inspection for a client who wants to use the property as a short term rental part of the year.  Because it is located within the City of St

If you already own a condo in Florida you’re probably very aware of Senate Bill 4D which brings requirements for a Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) in the next two years. If you&rsquo

My own journey as an investor started last year.  I found a property with two rentals on it, at the right price and a ton of potential.  In the, let’s just say, “up and coming area”

RENOVATION HIGHLIGHTS & LOWLIGHTS Scroll down for photos! What an incredible learning process this year has been. Twelve months ago, I began a renovation on my property in St Augustine.

There’s nothing more painful than making bad decisions with your own cash. Since buying my  property in West Augustine last year the learning curve has been enormous.  It’s not

Matt Kelley, property manager at Remax Realty, joined our call this past week to discuss property management for long term rentals.  This is a hot topic because of the growth we’ve seen in St

With the cost of reconstruction skyrocketing over the past few years, many people do not have enough insurance to replace their home should it need to be replaced or repaired due to a major storm or

A 1031 exchange is a real estate investing tool that allows investors to defer paying capital gains tax on a property.  You can swap out an investment property for

St Augustine’s Lincolnville Historic District was founded in 1866, and was designated as an historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. Lincolnville spans

I get a lot of questions about the Homestead Exception from people who are relocating to Florida.  This is an exemption that allows you to “homestead” your primary residence, enabling you