Jacksonville Real estate investing

[Christy Greene]

Hi everyone,  I have been getting some information on Jacksonville,Florida for rental properties through the Real Wealth Network.  In their "network", they have turnkey investment properties that are in the Westside (some examples were in the 32210 zip code), North side (around the airport side) , and Arlington.  I am in the process of due diligence.  I will be flying there since I am out of state.  Are any of these areas safe?  I saw that according to Google that Saint Johns county has good schools but I don't know about how the properties there would cash flow.  Can anyone give me good advice?  I will be going there at the beginning of June.   Thank you!  

[Robert Hetsler]

I am a native of Jacksonville Florida and I will tell you that I own properties in a few of the areas you mentioned and there are some good deals there but I will tell you they are not the most sought after areas of town.  I suspect if you are going to own absentee, I would suggest a few other areas of town but that is primarily because other areas tend to be less problematic in terms of needing maintenance and the tenants seem to need a little less hand holding.  Again, that is solely my person opinion based on my properties that I have owned.  However, I will tell you that I have great luck in the 32246, 32256, beaches for sure and then 32224.  Jacksonville is certainly a great area for investment but if you are not familiar with the town, I would definitely look for something close to the St. Johns Town Center as that is the up and coming area and the crossroads of most major interstates.

Of course, these areas are a little more expensive as I suspect your cash on cash return might be better in the other areas but make sure you factor in less vacancy and "headaches" as I have ended with properties in those zip codes.  However, what you do not see on paper  or just the numbers do not paint the full picture all the time. Just be cautious.