Hello: Interested in Jacksonville Beach

[Lauren Furey]

Hi Bigger Pockets Community, excited to be here!

We are currently renting on the east coast in a high cost of living area (Bergen County, NJ). Although our expenses are high, so is our income. We are able to save about 50% of our take home pay. 

Our current plan is to buy a condo in Jacksonville Beach as first time home buyers and use a PM company to manage and rent it out from a distance. We would like to end up in Jacksonville Beach in a couple years and possibly move into the condo or get another place and continue REI.

We have toyed with the idea of saving longer and buying the condo with cash or just getting a mortgage now while deals and interest rates are good. 

I'm here to learn as much as possible and I'm excited to see how the knowledge Bigger Pockets provides influences and improves our plan. 

[David Talbot]

Welcome future neighbor! If you're trying to get into Jax beach beachfront you're probably looking at one of the high rises which will be costly and have a pretty high maintenance fee which will make is nearly impossible to cash flow. If you look a couple blocks back from the beachfront (even east of A1A) you'll find plenty of options that cashflow narrowly. Look further north toward mayport and you'll find a fair number within blocks of the ocean that can cashflow until your arrival. Of course mayport has no nightlife so that might not meet your "house I want to move in to when I relocate" needs.

If you have, or plan to have, kids, I'd recommend either Neptune beach if you want to live in Duval or anywhere in Ponte Vedra for the schools. Ponte Vedra has some of the best schools in the whole state and we couldn't be happier with them. That said, it is hard to find properties that cash flow in Ponte Vedra (high purchase cost versus going rates for rents) but it is better for families.

Good luck!