My name is Oran, I’m 24 years old and I recently passed my real estate licensing exam. I’m now looking to get started on my first fix & flip project.
I currently have approximately $70,000 in capital that I’m looking to invest and leverage in a smart way. My husband is an experienced contractor and will be handling the renovation work himself, which gives me a strong advantage when it comes to execution and cost control.
At this stage, I’m working on defining the right strategy and would really appreciate insights from those with experience:
What type of properties are best to start with for a first flip
Which areas or ZIP codes in Jacksonville and surrounding areas are most suitable for beginners
What a realistic purchase price ceiling would be to avoid losses on a first deal
From a financial standpoint, whether it’s better to use hard money financing or partner with an investor and split profits in order to gain experience and build a track record
I’d love to hear any advice, ideas, or lessons learned from your own experience.
Of course, if anyone here is interested in partnering as a capital investor, or has potential opportunities, I’d be happy to connect privately.
Investor · Clearwater, FL · Member since 2025 · 226 posts · 78 votes
7mo
Comgrats Oran in taking the first step to get into real estate world. I am not in JAX market. But I would focus on neighborhoods that have good sales in them. End of the day, you are doing a flip to sell. So, start from there and do the reverse engineering. Since you may not have all the money, doing flips with hard money will help you to scale in future too.
Regarding the strategy, I would recommend reading/listening to below books:
My name is Oran, I’m 24 years old and I recently passed my real estate licensing exam. I’m now looking to get started on my first fix & flip project.
I currently have approximately $70,000 in capital that I’m looking to invest and leverage in a smart way. My husband is an experienced contractor and will be handling the renovation work himself, which gives me a strong advantage when it comes to execution and cost control.
At this stage, I’m working on defining the right strategy and would really appreciate insights from those with experience:
What type of properties are best to start with for a first flip
Which areas or ZIP codes in Jacksonville and surrounding areas are most suitable for beginners
What a realistic purchase price ceiling would be to avoid losses on a first deal
From a financial standpoint, whether it’s better to use hard money financing or partner with an investor and split profits in order to gain experience and build a track record
I’d love to hear any advice, ideas, or lessons learned from your own experience.
Of course, if anyone here is interested in partnering as a capital investor, or has potential opportunities, I’d be happy to connect privately.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Oran congrats on passing your exam and looking for your first flip. I can speak to different neighborhoods in Jacksonville from a rental perspective, but from a flip perspective not as much.
However, what I would suggest, or what I would be doing is asking active agents in your office and at other brokerages what types of properties are selling quickly right now and doing well and what isn't. We have a property management client selling some homes and they just aren't moving, and from what I'm hearing it's not a pricing concern, its a lot of homes at that price point in the area. However, those same agents have homes in much nicer areas in the high 6 figures and low 7 figures and those are getting tons of traffic and attention.
So maybe in Jax starter homes in the $300k range after being flipped is whats selling fast, or maybe its $500k pool homes in areas like Mandarin that are selling fast. Or maybe its $800k homes near the st johns river.
Part of flipping is managing your costs and budget, part of which will be your holding costs for taxes, insurance, lending costs, etc. Also, the slower homes are to sell, the more likely you will be to have to drop the price.
My wife and I were looking randomly at homes near us for a relative, and we saw a house for $325k that had started at $415k and it looked like a flip to us, and had been on the market for 6+ months. Assuming that was a flip, and they planned to make about $30-50k on that deal, they are going to end up losing a lot of money on that property instead.
So I personally, as someone who is not an active flipper so take what I saw with a grain of salt, would be focused on what is selling quickly right now and at what price, and then try and find flips that can become that property so your exit is more secure than something that is selling slowly.