Third Investment Property in Jacksonville, FL (2018)

[Matt Leber]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Jacksonville.

Purchase price: $80,000
Cash invested: $25,000

We bought our first small multi-family duplex in late 2018. We met heard about some off-market properties at a family birthday party and connected with the owner. We eventually made a deal for this duplex and the adjacent duplex next door at $80K each. Less than a couple months later, we have seen identical properties in the neighborhood selling for $100-105K. These units earn over 1.5% rent to purchase price.

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

Off-market deal that was priced low and brought in a good rent ratio. This was a long distance deal and we couldn't find anything this cheap that rents for this amount in our home market.

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

Off-market

How did you finance this deal?

25% conventional financing

How did you add value to the deal?

New tenants = higher rents. The tenants in the property when we purchased it were under-market and paying late. Their leases were month-to-month so we ended their tenancies and increased the rent over $100 per unit.

What was the outcome?

After a few months of switching tenancies and doing some light repairs and marketing, we have the units rented at $725 each.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Mom and pop tenants didn't like it when we implemented property management. This was our first long distance investment, so it was the first time we have not been able to self manage. We are learning a lot about property management, but it will make us better in the long run as we have been able to expand the markets we buy in.