All Forum Posts by: Jack Bobeck

Hot off the presses, the best places for flipping homes, and Jacksonville not on the list. Good luck! 

Best deals now are with wholesalers, IMO. 

Find some you can trust and make sure you do not over pay for something that may not cash flow. Ask realtors that find renters, as rentometer and other sites may not take into consideration local "flavor".

Tampa is a strong area because it is a destination city. Tampa/St Pete/Clearwater, its a growing area of Florida. West Palm is another area that was mentioned having strong job growth in addition to Tampa and Jacksonville. 

Orlando is a zoo. Last year, it welcomed 72 million visitors. 

@Michael San Roman Without needing to speak with Realtors, look at the latest stats in the area on price of homes and what is happening in some of the NE Florida areas. You can do that from the link of NEFAR and the April 2018 stats. 

Baker County has a median price point of $164,900 while Nassau County median price was $269,000. Duval/jacksonville median price was $195,000 so you get a sense and flavor of homes prices in the area. All the counties are listed in NE Florida, so this should be a great starting point. 

@James Sharpe I think the real estate market is really hot right now. I would look at foreclosures or work with wholesalers where you can get a better deal than retail. If the numbers work, go for it. I just sold property in Murray Hill that I purchased for $38 per sq ft for $76 per sq ft. I'm not a buyer of 80-100k bungalows in MH right now, as they were on sale a few years back for under $20 per sq ft. Work with wholesalers to find a good deal, but don't think a 20k house is a good deal right now, make sure the neighborhood is solid and hold onto your cash, you will get another chance in Real Estate, its always a cycle and we're nearing the top of this one. 

@Mark Fries I've owned 10 MH properties, still own 4 and I dont think MH is as bad as other parts of Jax. The history about the neighborhood is that the residents were mostly blue collar, many used to work at the SCL shops before CSX shut it down and its a simple area. Many nice people still love their yards and their neighborhoods. Then many of us went in and bought homes and turned them into Section 8 housing. I had Section 8 tenants too, I am guilty of it, but none anymore. I've had wooden doors kicked in, places robbed, but it comes back to the tenants. The best ones I have had in MH, cared for the property as if it was their own. They are hard to find, but when you find them, they will love the property and improve the neighborhood. I've owned on both sides of MH, East and West of Edgewood, houses a bit nicer west of edgewood, but some great people on both sides. 

@Tiffany Hardy Real Estate is a cycle, I purchased properties in Murray Hill for 30k during 2012, and now they are valued at 150k. So its all depending on where you buy in the cycle and your time horizon. You can get that return if you are willing to wait for the market to come around. I myself, am selling here in this market, I am waiting to buy again, not right IMO, as prices are too high in NE FL. 

This is the problem with Springfield, the neighborhoods and zip codes around it are the poorest in Jacksonville. Its not like you can be in Murray Hill and benefit from Riverside or Avondale. Springfield has some suspect and sketch neighborhoods next to it. So as Springfield comes back, its really hard to see the surrounding neighborhoods growing like others do in town. Dollar for Dollar, I'd rather be in Murray Hill, Riverside or Avondale. 

@James Bailey If this was your primary residence, I'd say go with gas, but since its a flip, do whatever is most cost effective. Its a hot market and if the beds and space fit what someone wants, they wont question electric vs gas. Good luck! 

I purchased a home with Auctions dot com, about 5 years ago, so not sure if the process has changed. It was a great deal, the bank had it, had a lien on it as well (but there are ways to have them removed). I purchased the home for $29k, I had to escrow up to 10%, then I had to use their crappy title company and all they would give me was a "Special Warranty Deed", so I had a local title company run a title search to make sure there was nothing else funny with the title. Still one of my best ever deals, property is worth $160k now and still going up. Auction takes control over the whole process and email/phone was all I could do, but the closing took 2-3 weeks, you are at the mercy of whatever crappy title company they use that week. Still a great deal, I'd use them again to find another deal. Good luck! 

Anyone looking at the Jacksonville market, please do yourself a favor and don't listen to the "experts", do your own research and look at the market stats, they are available by the 15th/16th of each current month for the previous month at the local MLS, here is the link and you can review the history as well. This data will tell you what homes have sold for, and what % of the list price the seller is getting on average in the area. Yes there are deals to be had, but everything is going up in Jacksonville, Rents, Home Prices, Values, and interest rates on money too. 

My wife and a fellow agent spent one Saturday with investors looking at and making offers in 32206 and 32209. Against her better judgement she agreed to help the investors who had scheduled the day as they would be in town. They saw 60+ houses, made offers to 20 and not one was accepted. In those areas, the Feb 2018 stats show that sellers are able to get 90% of their asking price. It’s a sellers market, so get real about your offers and don’t waste agents time. The time spent writing offers on 30k homes is just as valuable to them when writing 300k home contracts.