Should I sell my Fort Lauderdale property & buy in Orlando/Tampa?

[Mylene Bel]

Hi,

I own a condo apartment in Fort Lauderdale that I'm considering selling to invest in two small SFH in a cheaper city. It is fully paid and currently rented at 1,700$/month.

I wonder if it's best to keep it and hope for the market to keep rising (it's located in Victoria Park, a good neighborhood) or sell it now and divide the money to buy two SFH for $115-120K each in two different cities in Florida.

I'm looking at Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville but would be open to other areas. 

For example in Tampa I could get a 3 bed./2 bath. house for about $115K and rent it for $1,100 to $1,200. So if I sell I could buy two properties in Tampa and make around $2,400 per month in rental income. But of course I would have to spend twice in property management, maintenance and other fees. Though from my calculation I believe it's still worth it.

I need to do more research for Orlando as I'm not sure if prices are similar. 

Questions are:

- Are these markets as interesting as Fort Lauderdale in terms of value appreciation? 

- Will I be sure to find long term tenants and limit vacancy? In Fort Lauderdale my condo was almost never vacant in 5 years and the rent kept increasing.   

- Will expenses be comparable or even lower? (in terms of HOAs, taxation, etc)

My goal is to make a safe investment, increase my cash on cash return (currently 6,2%) and find the right balance between cash flow from tenants (most important) and value appreciation. Where exactly should I be looking?

Thanks a lot for your answers!