Not All Properties are Equal (Investing in Jacksonville)

[Henry Paschall]

Investment Info:

Townhouse buy & hold investment in Jacksonville.

Purchase price: $115,000
Cash invested: $42,000
Sale price: $168,000

Unfortunately, we bought this property as a buy and hold property, and our research led us to believe that this neighborhood was up and coming not in a bad area of Jacksonville. But about 1 year after we bought the property, they started cracking down on the homeless in downtown Jacksonville moving the crime to the neighborhoods just outside of Jacksonville. One of our residents was robbed outside of this property and we ended up paying for the resident to move out and sold this property. The lesson here is never buy into a property that you cannot take your family to and continue to research the area if you are banking on the neighborhood to be improved. Fortunately, we didn't lose money on this property but just broke even. It could have been a lot worse. Make sure you do your research and triple check it and continue to check it.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We love investing into properties that we can hold long term and we have been fortunate enough to have great tenants through our intense vetting process that stay with us for long periods of time.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This deal was brought to us by our relator and was also a civilian that worked on base that was leaving the area.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan with a 20% down payment.

How did you add value to the deal?

Improved Landscaping, LPV Flooring, new kitchen and bathrooms.

What was the outcome?

This investment was a failure for our family but due to the training from biggerpockets and community the outcome was mitigated.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The lesson here is never buy into a property that you cannot take your family to and continue to research the area if you are banking on the neighborhood to be improved. Fortunately, we didn't lose money on this property but just broke even. It could have been a lot worse. Make sure you do your research and triple check it and continue to check it.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

The Welch Team was our real estate agent and ProTechTitle was great