How This Investor Flips Homes Fast in Florida (Treasure Coast Case Study)

Martin Castro Silva (00:00)

I’m in the business of providing homes for new families and selling fast. I’m not in the business of sitting on the houses and wait for that big offer, that home run.

So I always try to price my houses very aggressive, right? Sometimes even below appraisal value because for each flip that I get, I actually get an appraisal. So let’s say a house appraisal at 310, I would be listing at 295, 299. 275, I would be listing at 265. Why? Because I want the most eyes on that property.

Dylan Silver (02:07)

Hey folks, welcome back to the show. Today’s guest, Martin Castro Silva is a single family investor and flipper along the treasure coast of Florida. He’s focused on Barrow Beach and Sebastian areas. He also has a background in banking and an MBA from Florida Atlantic University. You can find him on Instagram at Martin Mel Mack. Martin, thank you for taking the time today.

Martin Castro Silva (02:31)

Dylan, thank you so much for having me today.

Dylan Silver (02:34)

Now, I mentioned to you before hopping on here, the Treasure Coast of Florida is an area where I’m a little bit of a fish out of water. I haven’t looked at deals along the Treasure Coast. I don’t think I’ve spoken to any investors. And so I want to ask you, how did you get into investing in Vero Beach and Sebastian?

Martin Castro Silva (02:52)

Well, one of my clients, when I was working at a bank, introduced me and sold me my very first single family home here in Vero Beach. I’m originally from Fort Lauderdale, lived there for quite some time. And then when he introduced me to this city, I just came, looked at it, and the price point, there was a big gap price difference between what you can do in South Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Miami area, and what you can do in the Treasury Post.

Dylan Silver (03:16)

yeah.

Let’s talk specifically about that because I know I am a huge fan of that South Florida area. It’s amazing. Fort Lauderdale specifically by the water is unbelievable. But of course the price point is substantial. know and so when you’re looking at you know single family homes in that market versus in Barrow Beach can you give us an idea of the difference. You what’s what’s a single family home going for in Barrow Beach versus what it might be going for in Fort Lauderdale.

Martin Castro Silva (03:48)

Absolutely. basically in Fort Lordale, houses go from high 300s, 450, 500,000. know, nothing too fancy like 11, 1200 square feet, 6000 square feet lot versus in the Treasure Coast, most of the houses are at least a quarter acre lots, 1200 to 1500, 1700. And price point.

here in Vero Beach would be, I’m purchasing right now for anywhere from 150 to 250 fixed wrappers. Resale value would be 300, 325.

Dylan Silver (04:28)

Now, are these deals in Barrow Beach and in Sebastian, are these typically properties that themselves are distressed? are you also seeing a lot of situations where sellers are distressed, whether that could be due to a foreclosure or there’s a lot of issues with probate all across the country? And I know many investors find deals that way as well.

Martin Castro Silva (05:40)

Well, I’m very lucky. have had a few, a little bit of everything. I have had customers, sellers that couldn’t take care of the place and they didn’t have the means to maintain the property. You see like the stress properties, very neglected, big repairs that needed to be done on the property. Also I have, I have bought from,

⁓ sellers that passed away then the errors they don’t really want to know anything about they don’t know anything about this this this area and they just want to dispose it and get a check and move on I bought also from title landlords from different states last year I bought a house over the phone from a lady that lives in Connecticut you know she was she had a rent that he was a rental property for over 15 years and

I just like through marketing, following up, following up, following up, and then until I earned her trust and then she was able to sell to me. So it’s a little bit of everything. You could find anything. The thing is the population here in Bureau Beach and Sebastian, Indian River County overall is, I would say…

high 50, 60, 70 years old that have bought like 10, 15, 20 years ago for super, super, super low. So when I make my offers, they are already making money, you know?

Dylan Silver (07:05)

That’s a great point, you and I can imagine, you know, what the price of those homes were potentially that long ago, 15, 20 years ago. And what’s interesting specifically about all parts of Florida, I’ve noticed it’s not just South Florida, you know, not just the West Coast of Florida or the Treasure Coast of Florida, is that there seems to be…

Martin Castro Silva (07:13)

Do the piecework,

Dylan Silver (07:24)

more people who are still actively operating a business. They’re not retirees. They’re actively operating a business and they’re moving to Florida for the weather, for the vibe of entrepreneurship. And so, you know, there is an opportunity right now, I think, in so much of Florida for fix and flip, for rentals, because you have an expanding population, not just, of course, retirees, but of people in general across all walks of life who are now coming to Florida.

Martin Castro Silva (07:55)

Exactly and the train is going up. people that have lived, like for instance myself, right? I lived in South Florida for 18 years, purchased a few homes while I was living there. And then I built that equity that buying in these markets, the treasure coast would give me a lot more housing for my money and potentially, you know, investing rental properties or stuff like that. a lot of people that have bought

five, ten years ago, they’re mostly doing that. So the trend is going up from south to north.

Dylan Silver (08:28)

I would like to pivot a bit here, Martin, and ask you specifically about your process of managing these flips, because I know one of the challenging things about flipping is no two flips are alike. And then also too, you make the money on the buy, but you’ve got to make sure that your crew is meeting deadlines. And then at the end, you’ve got to make sure that the property sells without sitting for too long. And if it does, sometimes you have to pivot and turn it into a rental.

What’s your process like when you’re doing a flip?

Martin Castro Silva (09:00)

Okay, the very first thing that I do, this is one thing that I wanna see for all investors looking, is you gotta have a team. You gotta have an investor-friendly agent that will help you with comps and will give you what the for sure price would be for a house to sell. I personally try to underwrite my deals very conservatively because I like to give myself that wiggle room.

enough to make sure that if I have to, I can drop the price to the lowest possible and then sell it. So I think I do a very good job at underwriting the deals even before we present an offer and we try to negotiate it really, really well directly to sellers. But I do marketing, I buy on market deals sometimes, wholesalers, word of mouth, even referrals from Instagram or social media.

Dylan Silver (10:27)

One of the things that I’ve noticed is that once, I notice this as a wholesaler, once you find an investor who transacts, who closes, they sometimes become your first point of contact. so, closing a deal can become a way to expand your network as well. I know that, because you were talking before the show, that you actually moved out to Vero Beach because of a deal that you had out there. And so at this point,

Are you now finding deals through that sphere of influence and through realtors who you bought a deal from and a wholesaler who you bought a deal from and just expanding your sphere that way?

Martin Castro Silva (11:06)

Yes, absolutely. That’s like I said, you know, I always try to stay in contact with the wholesalers, especially if we had a good transaction, you know, because sometimes it could be a little complicated during the process before closing. But I always try to leave and close every deal on a good note.

So I follow up with the wholesalers. even like yesterday, I just finished a flip last week. So it’s listed, it’s on Zilong, coming soon. I sent that flip to the wholesaler that sold it to me. It’s like, hey, do you have another one? So I’m following up with wholesalers, real estate agents, and yeah, like I always pick up my phone. think that’s key too, even if it says spam, because you never know who can call.

Dylan Silver (11:48)

That’s right. mean, one of the complaints that I hear about realtors and I am am a realtor is that people get a license and then they don’t answer their phone. So people got to answer their phone if they’re in real estate. Right. I want to ask you specifically about the timeline really for these flips. Are you on each flip? Are you trying to have it be in a certain time frame? Do you have a set process for that or is each flip maybe a different timeline than the previous one?

Martin Castro Silva (11:59)

It’s that.

Dylan Silver (12:15)

And then second to that is how long are you seeing these properties sit on market before selling?

Martin Castro Silva (12:21)

Okay, 2025 has been a really good year for me because I believe I, along with my agent, we kind of like, we talk every day. So we kind of came up to with a formula, let’s put it that way, where we’re trying to underwrite it, try to get the property, make sure we do the big ticket items because we focus on that, right? Rehab it, lease it, it,

I think price is key.

I’m in the business of providing homes for new families and selling fast. I’m not in the business of sitting on the houses and wait for that big offer, that home run.

So I always try to price my houses very aggressive, right? Sometimes even below appraisal value because for each flip that I get, I actually get an appraisal. So let’s say a house appraisal at 310, I would be listing at 295, 299. 275, I would be listing at 265. Why? Because I want the most eyes on that property.

And like I said, last year I potentially put every single flip that I did within the first

first or second week, it was under contract. to move it, I give myself between two to six months and I have to dispose. I think the longest flip that it took to sell was two months. And I don’t know, it was just like around Thanksgiving that time of the year.

Dylan Silver (13:38)

Wow. That’s incredible. That’s incredible.

mean, look,

throughout the country, that’s not uncommon. mean, there’s flips that have been sitting for months in some of the markets that I’m active in and that I’ve seen in neighboring states. And so, you know, of course, when you’re going to be conducting a flipping business, you have to know, how long am I going to be holding on to this for? And then also, too, know, keeping up with…

what the grade is, the level of comps that are selling. Because if you’re thinking you’re gonna set the market or you’re gonna do some ultra high HGTV level flip and there’s not comps that will justify that, then it’s gonna be tough because you might be setting the market. Well, now what’s gonna happen? I wanna ask you specifically about that, Mark. For folks who are looking at to what level they should flip their homes and in what area they should buy in.

how much homework do they have to do to see, what’s the homes that are selling right now in the market? And then also too, what am I comfortable with? Am I comfortable with a home that is gonna be an HGTV level flip that I’m gonna put more money into, but that may have some more risk, because it may sit on market longer versus something else.

Martin Castro Silva (15:56)

Well, I came up with the idea that anything below 350,000 would sell because it’s kind of like the sweet spot, the sweet price for everybody, right?

When I purchase something, like I said, I try to do the big ticket items because someone coming and buying, they already have a big expense with the down payment and closing costs. And then if on top of that, they have to do something else like such as the roof or the AC, stuff like that, it’s gonna be very unlikely to get a customer, to get a buyer. So I would say they just have to…

focus on getting the deal underrated very conservatively, try to do what the house needs to make it livable and nice and then put it on the market and then move on. To my understanding, this business goes more, it’s based more on volume than it is per item. So I’m looking at the end of the year to see how many flips I was able to do and then what my profit would be.

Dylan Silver (17:01)

Now for folks who are maybe running several flips concurrently, right? What are some challenges if they haven’t done that before that they will find? And then as well, just general feedback and advice you have for folks who are managing crews.

Martin Castro Silva (17:16)

Sometimes if you don’t really have a good crew, you can be sitting on a house without doing anything. You know, because you would have so much capacity. Like if you have two or three flips, you can only touch one house at a time or maybe two house at a time. But then the third one is gonna be sitting, that’s holding calls that you have to account for when you’re doing your underwriting, especially if you know what volume of houses you have. Okay.

Dylan Silver (17:42)

Yeah, I mean, that’s a big issue that people will find is managing those contractors, right? And one of the things that I think is a common source of pain for investors is this idea that, you know, they could buy the property, right? And then they could, you know, partner with the wrong contractor and something can happen. I’ve heard often because of this specifically that if you are going to be doing a flip and you don’t have experience swinging a hammer and you’re not a general contractor, that you should be an equity partner with

the contractor that way they’ve got skin in the game as well. What’s your feedback on that type of approach?

Martin Castro Silva (18:18)

Totally,

totally. The very first two flips that I did, like single family homes, I hired Yeezy. And I gave myself the time to see what he was doing. I saw how he was hiring. I saw what the process was. You know, you gotta do electrical first. You gotta do all the plumbing first. You gotta do…

the drywall, the compound and all of that, right? So that was kind of like my school and after that I decided that I would GC my own projects and create my own crew and I’ve been working with them ever since July 2023.

Dylan Silver (18:54)

We are coming up on time here, Martin. Any new projects that you’re working on, I know it sounds like you’ve got a listing active right now or just went under contract. And then as well, what’s the best way for folks to get in contact with your team?

Martin Castro Silva (19:06)

Well, we recently got under contract a house in Sebastian with a customer that I got from my marketing campaign. She called me up, she owns multiple houses and she’s in need of selling. I made an offer, she liked it. So I’m going to be working on that one. And the way how people can find me is on Instagram is what I use mostly. I’m at at martinmelmac That’s it.

Dylan Silver (19:32)

Martin, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you for taking the time.

Martin Castro Silva (19:35)

Thank you so much, Dylan. Nice to meet you.