From Jackson to Jacksonville

[Barrett Smith]

My name is Barrett Reed Smith originally from Madison Mississippi but now live in Jacksonville fl. I currently own and rent out my home in Madison in the northbay subdivision (only able to rent it due to hardship of job transfer for any that know the strict hoa). I met my wife who was a successful and very young realtor (only 21) in 2005 and in 2006 I became a realtor with The Real Estate Group under Allan Patterson. My wife Amy and I got involved with an investor in California and became his listing agents in the tri county area. We had 18 flipped homes listed at the pop in 2007. Compound the pop with the fact I had a major medical issue, my first child was due in September and we were starting to starve. I had to go into another direction for a while. I wanted a little background before saying for the last 8 years I have pulled back from the industry but kept going with learning and education. I have also learned so much in action by having and holding of my home in MS including having an eviction within the first 6 months of the lease. Just the process to lease in Madison and the Pearl River valley water association and northbay hoa caused great learning lessons. I have in the works and have registered as a Florida LLC a company that will bring leads and immediate opportunities to myself and future partnerships by thinking out of the box. I also have developed a holding company and a marketing company. I still examine the trends in industry, just found BP (greatest thing since sliced bread!) and even review properties I find in Jacksonville FL as well as Madison ( have to keep my eye out for the best time to sell or raise my rate when and while I still can). Is Jacksonville on your radar or already investing here? Seems like a lot of the gurus are targeting here! The big focus I see is the mega multifamily firms building like crazy. There are many areas that have prime homes to flip/sale or to hold but I have heard that due to ever increasing market pressures as well as some demographics swings like new construction and school ratings the ARV margins are slimming. However the larger established homes and gated areas have limited deals but have great potentials due to increasing job growth within the medical field, military, and the retirees switching to north fl and South Georgia for "bang for their buck". I also have found that there are neighborhoods like the woods off atlantic and others near hodges and kernan that seem to be the target zones for long term BH strategy? I have listened to about 20 podcasts and read multiple feeds. Can't say enough about how amazing BP is! Even bought Brandon Turners book. I would like to find a Jacksonville investor to get some hands on experience with and will be headed to some reia and reif events next month. I am excited again about making my passion for real estate, networking, and growing my families future!