1 Beach Dr SE Unit 911, Saint Petersburg, FL 33701 — 93.4% Cash-on-Cash

About this property

Unit 911 at Bayfront Tower is a two-bedroom, two-bath condo spanning 1,945 square feet in downtown Saint Petersburg, FL, listed at $175,000 after a $145,000 price reduction from its original ask.

The unit sits inside a full-service high-rise with 24-hour concierge, valet parking, and amenity floors on the 28th and 29th levels — rooftop pool, fitness center, outdoor kitchen, and a walking track with panoramic views. Each bedroom is a proper suite with an ensuite bath and walk-in closet, and the layout includes a bonus room that works as a home office. A private balcony with sliding glass doors adds outdoor space above the downtown skyline.

At 1,945 square feet, the unit is unusually large for a downtown condo at this price point. The property is non-owner occupied, and it has been on the market 306 days — a signal worth examining alongside the listing's most consequential disclosure: upcoming special assessments totaling $326,011 (structural: $227,940; window/door: $79,448; fire sprinkler: $18,623), all due in full from the buyer at closing. The tax-assessed value sits at $548,827, more than three times the listing price, which reflects how sharply the price has been cut to move the unit.

The $145,000 price reduction and 306 days on market both point to a motivated seller — but the special assessments are the defining variable in any offer calculus.

The investment case

Unit 911 posts the highest cash-on-cash return in zip 33701 at 93.4% — more than four times the zip average of 22.5% and over twenty times the city-wide average of 4.6%.

List Price

$175,000

Monthly Payment (PITI+HOA)

$3,267

Principal & Interest

$955

Property Tax

$264

Insurance

$58

HOA

$1,990

PMI

$0

Est. Monthly Rent

$5,992

Estimated rent based on automated valuation of comparable listings.

Cash-on-Cash Return

93.4%

Cap Rate

27.0%

Monthly Cash Flow

$2,725

Gross Rent Multiplier

2.4

DSCR

4.1

The math starts with a $175,000 listing price. At 20% down ($35,000) and a 6.52% 30-year fixed rate, principal and interest runs $955/month. Add property tax ($264), insurance ($58), and HOA fees ($1,990), and total monthly carrying cost reaches $3,267. Estimated monthly rent of $5,992 produces a monthly cash flow of $2,725 — a net operating income of $3,944/month and a cap rate of 27.0%.

The debt service coverage ratio of 4.1 means the property generates more than four dollars of net operating income for every dollar of debt service. The gross rent multiplier of 2.4 is exceptionally low; most income properties in this city trade at multiples many times higher.

The HOA fee of $1,990/month is the single largest cost line — it exceeds principal and interest by a factor of two. That figure reflects the full-service amenity stack and the building's ongoing maintenance obligations, which are separate from the special assessments. Investors should confirm with the HOA whether the $1,990 is subject to increase after the special assessment projects are completed.

Figures exclude depreciation tax benefits, which vary by individual tax situation.

The return metrics are genuinely exceptional on paper, but the true equity-in figure is $35,000 down plus $326,011 in assessments — a combined $361,011 cash requirement at closing.

5-year return outlook

The 5-year total ROI of 114.1% is almost entirely driven by cash flow, with appreciation and mortgage paydown as secondary contributors.

Cash flow accounts for 93.4 percentage points of the 114.1% five-year total ROI. Mortgage paydown contributes 6.7 points. Appreciation adds an estimated 14.0 points, based on a projected annual appreciation rate of approximately 2.8% — that figure is an estimate rather than a data-sourced market measurement, so it carries more uncertainty than the cash-flow components.

The practical implication: this deal's return thesis doesn't depend on price appreciation. Even if the property appreciates at zero, the cash-flow and paydown components alone would account for 100% of the projected return. That's a meaningful distinction from appreciation-dependent plays common in high-cost coastal markets.

The risk to the five-year outlook is rent sustainability. If the $5,992/month rent estimate proves optimistic — and with zero rental comps available in zip 33701 at this bedroom count, there's real uncertainty there — the cash-flow contribution shrinks proportionally. A 15% reduction in achieved rent, for example, would cut monthly cash flow from $2,725 to roughly $1,826, materially compressing the CoC and five-year total.

The five-year case is cash-flow-first and doesn't require appreciation to pencil — but it does require the rent estimate to hold, which the thin local comp data can't yet confirm.

How it compares to nearby for-sale listings

Four active two-bedroom listings in zip 33701 provide a pricing frame — and at $175,000, this unit sits at a steep discount to every one of them.

The for-sale comp median in zip 33701 for two-bedroom condos is $1,049,000 — six times this property's $175,000 ask. The lowest-priced comp in the set lists at $479,000 for a 1,055-square-foot unit, which implies a price-per-square-foot above $450. At $175,000 across 1,945 square feet, this unit prices at roughly $90/sqft — a fraction of what comparable downtown units are asking.

That gap isn't a market inefficiency. It's a direct reflection of the $326,011 in special assessments due at closing. Adjust for those assessments and the effective acquisition cost rises to approximately $501,000, which puts it closer to — though still below — the comp set on a per-square-foot basis at roughly $258/sqft.

The comp units have been on the market between 23 and 115 days. At 306 days, this listing has sat significantly longer than any of them, reinforcing that the market has been pricing in the assessment burden since the listing launched. The $145,000 price reduction since the original listing is the seller's response to that signal.

On a headline price basis this looks like the deepest discount in the zip; on a true-cost basis, the gap narrows considerably once the assessment obligation is folded in.

Rental demand in this zip

There are no active rental comps in zip 33701 at the two-bedroom level to benchmark against, which means the $5,992/month rent estimate carries meaningful uncertainty.

The estimated monthly rent of $5,992 is the engine behind every return metric in this analysis. With zero comparable rentals available in zip 33701 for two-bedroom units, that estimate is unconfirmed by local market activity. Investors should treat it as a starting hypothesis rather than a validated figure.

What the property itself supports: 1,945 square feet, two full en-suite bedrooms, a bonus room, a private balcony, and access to a full amenity stack including rooftop pool and 24-hour concierge in a building steps from the waterfront. That's a competitive rental product for a downtown market. The question is whether the local tenant pool will support a $5,992 ask — roughly $3.08/sqft/month — in a zip where no comparable active rentals are currently priced.

The HOA's $1,990/month fee and the building's full-service positioning suggest this is a premium rental target, likely aimed at corporate relocation, extended-stay professional, or high-income tenant profiles. Whether that demand is deep enough in this submarket to achieve the estimated rent consistently is the single largest underwriting risk in this deal.

Underwriting at a 10-15% rent haircut relative to the estimate — roughly $5,100-$5,400/month — would still produce positive cash flow, which provides some buffer even if the full estimate doesn't hold.

Who this property suits + risks to weigh

This property suits a cash-heavy investor who can absorb a $361,000-plus all-in closing cost and is comfortable underwriting a rent estimate without local comp support.

Best fit

The investor this deal targets has significant liquidity. The down payment alone is $35,000, but the special assessments add $326,011 due at closing — so the real equity-in is over $361,000 before any renovation or carrying costs. That's not a deal for a leveraged first-time investor; it's a deal for someone who can write a large check and wants an income-producing downtown asset at a basis well below the tax-assessed value of $548,827.

The 27% cap rate and 4.1 DSCR suggest the property can carry itself comfortably once stabilized. An investor with a long hold horizon who believes in downtown St. Petersburg's rental demand — and is willing to do the legwork to validate the $5,992 rent estimate independently — could find genuine value here.

Risks to weigh

The special assessments are the dominant risk. At $326,011, they represent structural remediation, window and door replacement, and fire sprinkler work — not cosmetic upgrades. The nature of those projects suggests the building has deferred meaningful maintenance, and investors should review the full HOA financials and reserve study before committing.

The $1,990/month HOA fee is the second major risk. It's already the largest cost line in the monthly carry, and it could increase further as the building works through its assessment projects. At 306 days on market, the listing itself is evidence that the market has been skeptical.

Finally, the absence of rental comps means the cash-flow projections rest on an unverified rent assumption. Confirming achievable rent through a local property manager's analysis before closing is essential.