1031 into Florida advice needed

[Thomas T.]

I live in the Pacific Northwest and have been investing in real estate here for years, but am considering retiring in Florida. I have a size-able portfolio that is a mix of commercial and residential. I didn’t acquire my portfolio by being some sort of an investment genius, rather, I just used profits from my business to buy whenever I had an opportunity. I then used most of these proceeds to upgrade the properties and make them more valuable.

Now I'm looking to sell off my assets and reinvest the money in Florida utilizing 1031 exchanges. I am open to commercial or residential. Probably leaning a little more towards residential, though for more stable cash flow. Further, I'm leaning more towards SFR than apartments. I am open to apartments, but my past experience with them has left a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

My question is, which town or community or area along the West Coast of Florida or the panhandle would be the best to move my money to for cash flow?

I spent the last phase of my investment career doing what I call snowballing. I kept rolling the profits into more properties and rolling the equity into more properties. Now I’m shifting my focus to retirement cash flow. I’ll probably take a bit of a tax hit in order to 1031 without carrying the mortgage across. I’ll have to pay taxes on the mortgage boot. That will leave me with a portfolio in which everything is paid for in cash and have maximum cash flow. It will also dramatically lower my risk profile so that I can relax in retirement. 

I’m open to most parts of Florida other than Miami and the surrounding areas.  So if you were moving there, which part would you move to if you were looking highest cash flow. Appreciation is nice, but not my primary consideration. All things being equal between two areas, if cap rates are similar, but one area is likely to have more appreciation in the future, that is something I would take into consideration, though.