Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 19 posts · 6 votes
HI All: I am currently actively investing in real estate - mostly Buy and Hold multifamily units. But I have also done new construction and flipping, both commercial and residential.
My wife and I ( + 1 yr old kid) are thinking of moving south to get away from the Chicago weather. We are looking for a great place where we can raise our daughter and have better quality of life - my wife's requests :) .
My request ( in addition to my wife's) - I want to be close to where the real estate investing action is. Some friends mentioned Ponte Vedra and St. John.
I know this is a very general request, but I want to get some feedback on what you think. We are planning to come down to Florida to check things out before we do a final decision. Any pointers would be very helpful!
te Vedra or St John good investment turf, but nice places! Quality of life goal would certainly be met, but it's an expensive quality of life. We live just north of there in "the beaches" area and love it. In my opinion not a lot of bargains to be found in the immediate area though. Depends on what you're looking for.... definitely suggest a scouting trip, and if we can help, feel free to reach out. My wife is also a local RE agent.
te Vedra or St John good investment turf, but nice places! Quality of life goal would certainly be met, but it's an expensive quality of life. We live just north of there in "the beaches" area and love it. In my opinion not a lot of bargains to be found in the immediate area though. Depends on what you're looking for.... definitely suggest a scouting trip, and if we can help, feel free to reach out. My wife is also a local RE agent.
I am a native of St. John's county and @Eugene Kemp is correct about the expensive quality of life. However, the primary attraction for people moving there is the school system and so you will have many families looking to establish residency there. You can also get a decent amount of bang for your buck purchasing in fruit cove or Switzerland and pay much less but you will be away from the beach so it does depend on your goals. However, there are many opportunities in the Jacksonville area as well and, being a native of the area, and being involved in real estate from every possible angle, including being an agent, certainly put me on the list to contact if you need any assistance as well.
I live in Ponte Vedra Beach. Great place to live, fantastic schools and worlds cheaper than Chicago (Which I lived in a decade ago). PVB is relatively more expensive than the greater Jacksonville, it is dirt cheap compared to even the "adequate" parts of Chicago.
PVB is a great place to live but the mortgage cost relative to the rental rates are terrible for buy and hold. You'd buy a $400k house and be lucky to rent it for $2.2k/mo. Other parts of JAX are better for buy and hold. There are flipping opportunities in PVB.
I definitely agree with all the above. Ponte vedra is great to live. I live here, but buy and hold not so good. If you plan on doing buy and holds look at the Northside, Westside, Orange Park, Middleburg in Jax. You can flip at the beaches but most buy for land value, tear down, and start new. It's a hot market and tough I think.
I also lived in the Midwest for 6-years and you are in for a treat once you relocate! Investing in Jax can be very profitable for buy-and-hold as I've done so here for a few years. Let me know if I can be of service, thanks and good luck!
@Roderick Carabott if you and your wife want to check out South Florida and need any help feel free to connect with me. There is a lot of investment activity here and it's a very hot market.
Congratulations and welcome to BP!
I recently made the same decision from the Boston area.
As of July I will be based in Broward County FL seeking the same respite from life in the northeast.
I don't know as much about FL as I do Boston and MA, but my research into south Florida and raising children pointed me toward:
Southwest Ranches
Weston
Coral Springs
Davie
Cooper City
I focused on desirable school districts and these were top performers.
As far as RE investing, it didn't much matter to me since I can do that from anywhere. I just wanted to be in a place that met what my wife and I wanted for our family and that I felt had a good mix of like-minded folks into REI.
Hope that helps. Add me and we'll stay in touch as you make your way.
Florida is a great place to live and raise kids. I was a teen in Orlando in 1969 and it's still a great place for families. We just moved to Indian River county and we feel lucky to be here. It is quiet and safe. Check crime stats. Florida has many problem areas. My feeling is if you have a choice try to be on one of the coasts for fun and beauty and try to get in the southern half of the state. The winter weather is much nicer and the summers are no worse. Summer in Miami is way better than in Orlando. Also visit this summer. It can be tough on some people and it lasts through the 3rd week of October. Real estate has gone up everywhere and there is large population of investors but the water is warm and we have plenty of room.
@Roderick Carabott the best places are located in the areas of southwest ranches(very pricey), weston, coral springs, davie, plantation, sunrise. I am a Licensed Realtor and I would love to help you with the transition. Feel free to reach out to me. Thank you
Trinity 34655 - check it out. Great proximity between beaches / Tampa and/or Clearwater Metros, and exceptional growth market. Great school zones. I live there currently and my children have attended amazing schools here.
My wife and I (and 2.9 kids; she's due any minute w/baby #3) are actually moving a bit north ourselves now, because we want to be closer to our investments (Spring Hill area).
@Roderick Carabott, I am an agent here in Jacksonville and I work primarily with investors. In my experience Jacksonville is great for Buy and Holds. However the areas you mentioned may not be the best place for that.
Ponte Vedra is a great place to live but the properties are very expensive compared to what is available around the rest of Jacksonville. St Johns is near a lot of the investing action and would be a nicer place to live but I wouldn't advise you to invest in St Johns itself. St Johns is just so new and it is growing so it is hard to find good deals there.
Mandarin is just over the bridge from St Johns and you can find some older homes there that can be good buy and holds with a little bit of work and they're still in a stable area in a decent price range.
If you're willing to drive a little further you can get great deals in Orange Park for buy and holds $100K and less with great returns.
I work with RE/MAX Watermarke and I'd be happy to help you out in any way.
Nocatee is nice, I own a house over there that we used to live in but now rent it out. The reason people choose PVB over the other parts of St. Johns is Ponte Vedra High school which is definitely king of the academics in the region for public schools. Absolutely stellar academic school.
All of the schools through middle school in northern st.johns is good, the high schools is where the quality diverges. All are good, but PVHS is materially better.
I moved to North Melbourne (Suntree / Viera area) less than two years ago and the place is booming. Great schools too. The growth since we moved here has been tremendous; there are a lot of opportunities here and throughout the space coast.