Jacksonville Riverside Flips

[Jack Bobeck]

Back in December 2018, I was part of a group that purchased 2240 Post Street in the 32204 (Riverside) area of Jacksonville. It was a great house that was Victorian and the old woman was a hoarder and had let the house fall down badly. She did not use the 3rd floor or 2nd floor, as she had holes in the roof allowing rain water to further deteriorate the house. So my partners and I purchased it for $150,000 cash. It had been on the market at $200,000 earlier in the fall. The other 6 partners sold it 14 months later, unfinished for $220,000. I left the partnership in May 2019 and walked away from the expenses coming.  Holding costs of money, property taxes, insurance, cost them a lot more than they received. These were 6 inexperienced flippers and it surely cost them a lot of money and taught them some serious lessons on flipping houses. 

The same wholesaler that flipped 2240 Post Street is now pushing 2747 Riverside Ave, and the similarities are striking. Cracked walls, rotten windows. But they are now offering the house at $280,000. A week before they were offering the same house at $320,000. What changed in one week? Did they think they could get someone to buy up by $40,000? I point this out not to rail on wholesalers for making all they can when they can, far from it. I want to make people aware of a bad experience I had with this wholesaler and they are selling another property in the Historic District of Riverside Avondale. If you think its a deal, the wholesaler also does flips, so why is he not choosing to do this flip? He says it has an ARV of $525,000 when finished.

Buyers do your homework and beware.