Welcome to the best monthly newsletter in St. Pete and possibly the known universe. My goal for this monthly newsletter is to highlight the best events happening within the Pinellas County Young “Professionals” Meetup group as well as other awesome things going on in the St. Pete area. Wow I actually finished this one on time.
We will keep this short and sweet. Here’s what you can expect in this 2 minute newsletter
- Event schedule for Pinellas County Young “Professionals”
- Links to other sweet events in the St. Pete area
- Member highlight of the month
- Local real estate update
Upcoming Events For Pinellas County Young “Professionals”
Thank you guys for making the past two events awesome! The event at the Scott went really well and we had a good Frandsgiving too. I’ve been working overtime eating leftover food and drinking a wide variety of booze that was left at my house.
After The Scott event all I could think was Dat Waz Awesome, then I had to remember where that was from and I traced it back to this video that will never not be not funny “Mother F*cking Bootleg Fireworks”, enjoy
Click on calendar for the link
Thursday December 1st (Tomorrow)
Intermezzo Happy Hour & Night Market
SIKE apparently there’s no happy hour this time of year or night market anymore but Intermezzo kills it with the “Miracle At Mezzo” holiday theme. It’s looking like great weather to get together and have a few $14 cocktails, it’s almost the holidays let’s ball out. Here’s the link.
Saturday December 12th
Paddle Meetup!
Alexa is hosting another Paddle Board / Kayak Meetup. This time at Weedon Island. Bring your own gear or rent some at Weedon. They’re gonna bring some drinks and snacks. Weedon is a beautiful and peaceful place to kayak if you’ve never been. Calm waters and mangroves, you’ll probably see some dolphins, manatees and other wildlife. Here’s the link.
Ideas in progress
Speed Dating – I’ve been trying to convince myself to do this again. Would be great to start of 2023 with some romantic prospects am I right??? When that hurricane was coming directly at us I was thinking damn it would be nice to have someone to die with me, maybe next year.
New Years Eve House Party – This is still in the works but my friend wants to throw a party at his beautiful historic house in Roser Park. We’re looking into hiring a musician. We’re still hammering out the details but keep an eye out. He’s been doing a ton of renovations to his house lately but it looks like he’s almost ready to make something happen.
OTHER LOCAL EVENTS
Live Music At The Dali – Check out this event posted on Facebook, looks pretty neat.
Holiday Mini Golf At The Pier – I don’t know if adults without kids are allowed at an event like this but mini golf is awesome.
Member Highlight
Our member highlight for this month is ZABRINA, who apparently also goes by Z but I’m not hip enough to call her that. Damn I wish I was that photogenic. Oh well, God loves ugly right? That’s what I tell myself atleast.
I met Zabrina a few months ago before the first Wine Wednesday when she came to pre-game with me at the Dog Bar. She said she was ready to buy a condo so we devised a plan. I set up some showings and we had a pretty great arrangement – I would drive us around and she would concoct some road sodas to add some excitement. We drank our way through most showings and ended up finding her a sweet condo. Zabrina comes out to a bunch of events and is always happy to make some new frands!!!
Real Estate Update
Things are changing a bit since interest rates actually dropped and there’s been more inventory sitting on the market. You’ve probably seen atleast a few D-bag realtors suggesting that “Now is the time to buy!!!” regardless of market conditions. This is 100% a personal decision and needs to be assessed on an individual basis but let me give you some ideas to consider.
If you’re planning on staying in St. Pete you of course need a place to live. You can buy or pay a lot of money in rent. There’s ways to be smart about buying and keep your costs low if that’s your goal.
This past week I put in an offer for some clients on a duplex listed at 350k. We offered 330k and they didn’t even give us a counter offer, they just signed it. In addition to that the house needs a lot of work including a new roof, fumigation, some electrical upgrades for insurance, and some minor things required for a VA appraisal. We’re currently negotiating repairs but it sounds like the seller is more than willing to accommodate our requests.
Rates are higher but we have an opportunity here. In the past few years people were just waiving inspections and paying above appraised value. Now you can lock down a house and potentially get some big repairs done and paid for with the seller’s equity. 6% interest might be the new normal but I think it’s going to continue to go up with Fed interest rate hikes before it goes back down. The Fed rate hikes are guaranteed, and although the mortgage rates arent’ tied in with them 1 for 1 it’s still seemingly on an upward trend. Can you refinance later at a lower rate? No one knows so don’t get yourself into a situation that you can’t afford.
Duplexes and other income properties are a great way to “House Hack” and get your foot in the door. Rental market is strong so if you can live in one unit and rent out the other you could be in a pretty good spot. Mortgage lenders can factor your potential rental income into your buying power to help you qualify for a larger mortgage if need be, even if the unit isn’t currently rented.
If you want to keep costs down I’d suggest buying a block construction home in a non-flood zone. Extra points if it has a newer roof with a wind mitigation certificate that helps lower your insurance. Another option is finding a place with a good floor plan for roommates.
Conclusion
OK that’s about it. As always please let me know if you have any ideas for meetups or if you’d like to host one of your own. Thanks for reading homies.