Tampa and Jacksonville FL

[Han Gu]

I am a newbie looking at Orlando. Then in some of my previous threads, lots of people mentioned Tampa and Jacksonville.

So I figured, wth, I'll just take a look. And Wow! Huge, newer houses for super cheap. I couldn't even wrap my head around that. Granted, a lot of the school ratings seem to be abysmal. But some were acceptable.

Obviously, something's causing their markets to get like that. Can some of the pros here shed some light?

What would be a good strategy to invest in these two places? Cash flow or flip?

Honestly, for a newbie that has limited budget ($150k), and wants to make the most bang for the buck, these properties look very tempting. (on paper at least)