Jacksonville, Florida market

[Vincent Lattuca]

I am looking to move out of state and house hack a small-multi family as my first property. One of the markets I am thinking about investing in is Jacksonville, FL. I would appreciate any advice about the area and would love to connect with fellow real estate professionals/investors.

[Drew C Grossman]

Quote from @Vincent Lattuca:

I am looking to move out of state and house hack a small-multi family as my first property. One of the markets I am thinking about investing in is Jacksonville, FL. I would appreciate any advice about the area and would love to connect with fellow real estate professionals/investors.

Hi @Vincent Lattuca - I grew up in the Jacksonville area and it’s unique because it covers over 800 square miles making it the largest city land mass wise in the county!

There are an handful of counties and individual  sub mark that make up Jacksonville and with that being said… price points, rents, returns, appreciation will differ tremendously from location to location. 

For example, you can get a 2,000 sqft new construction duplex in 32205 (Duval County) for $400k that rents for $1350 a side. Let’s assume you bought it at 400k and put 10% down…your mortgage would roughly be $2,850 with a 7% interest rate…renting out one side at $1,350 would leave you with paying $1500 a month and coming out of pocket 40k for a down payment vs if you just rented and saved the money!!! For these reasons, this is NOT a good house hack. The only play in this case would be banking on appreciation which is super risky and I personally wouldn’t want to invest in this area 32205 rather look towards the beaches or St John’s County. 

St John’s County is a MUCH better market overall … and with that comes much higher prices….the same product here in this county will cost double …however I don’t have any examples because there isn’t that many small multiple family 2-4 units that exist. Mostly single family on the residential side. 

What attracted you to Jax and what areas have you researched? 

In the ideal world…what are you trying to get out of this house hack?

What are the financial goals associated with this project?

House hacking a small single family or townhome and renting out by the room may be more feasible but I am not sure your comfort level / expectations / quality of living !

I just read another post who said “The more profitable the house hack, the more uncomfortable the living situation”.