All Forum Posts by: Gregg Cohen

Hi @Carolyn Morales - thanks for thinking of us!

Hey @Delvin McCray - Nice to meet you!  We'd love to help you out.  We are a vertically-integrated turnkey rental property company here in Jacksonville.  We have all aspects of the investment under one roof including in-house property management.  We've been helping clients invest here in Jacksonville since 2006 and currently serve over 1,200 clients who come to us from 43 states and 13 countries and trust us with their portfolio.  I'll reach out directly over a private message and hope to connect soon!

@Chris Clothier - Thanks for the mention! Another example of the class act that you are and the servant leadership of REI Nation.

I completely agree with Chris's take regarding what really defines a turnkey company.  By investing with a company that owns, renovates/builds and sell it's own inventory and that does the PM in-house, you'll earn the best risk-adjusted returns on your rental property investments over the long haul...and you'll have the best customer service experience.

@Andrew Pokrzywinski - Thanks for the mention!

@Julien Pouchon - Congrats on taking the first step towards building a rental property portfolio!  I think you're on the right track by looking for a market with high rents and low purchase prices rather than New York.  Florida is a big state and some markets are better to invest in than others.  

I have been investing in rental properties in the Jacksonville, FL market for over 15 years now and would be happy to help.  It's hard to analyze the property you currently have under contract because there are so many more things to understand than just those numbers.  I do love the fact that you are buying property from the same company that is doing the property management in-house.  Goals are aligned.  This is a must in my opinion if you are an out-of-state investor and you want a passive, enjoyable experience. 

5-6% net cash on cash returns sound great but make sure they are including realistic maintenance and vacancy cost expectations as well as all tenant placement fees and closing costs in the purchase.

I've never heard of an "investor pack" and I'm not sure how that factors into your returns so make sure to do your due diligence there. 

7% property management fees seem very low.  Industry standard is 10% of gross rents collected.  Just keep in mind that your property management decision is incredibly important and don't just go with the cheaper option.  Make sure they sign long term leases (2 or 3 years) and have a strong track record of renewing leases (70% is our standard) so that your residents stay long term.  That's how you win in rental property investing.

Hope this helps!

Hi @Charles A. - I just searched Trulia's crime maps and outlined the Northside and Arlington neighborhoods that my clients and I have been investing in since 2006 here in Jacksonville.  You'll notice that the Northside and Arlington have a relatively low amount of darkest blue but do have some areas of the lighter blue.  This is the reality of investing in single-family rental properties if you want to produce positive cash flow in a growth market like Jacksonville.  

If this is the right model for you, you have to be comfortable investing in below middle income neighborhoods.  The truth is crime happens in every neighborhood.  We just stay away from violent crime areas but are realistic that crime does happen in some of our neighborhoods.  The great thing is we've proven that you can perform property management services that promote long-term resident stays in below middle income neighborhoods and that's why this investment works so well.  We sign 2 and 3 year leases and renew 70% of our residents who come up for renewal which leads to an avg duration of resident stay of 54 months. 

Financing and appraisals are typically much easier for single family than multis.  And you can make a strong argument that there is more upside potential for single family than multis based on expectations of home prices going up 8-10% in 2021 vs 2020.  

I do like multi family investing as well. It's just hard to find it in neighborhoods where you can earn a decent ROI from the rental income. Not sure which historic neighborhoods you're referring to but prices in Springfield and at the beaches are typically too high to justify it.

Hi @Lexie Wang, I hope we can work together as well!  We'd be happy to provide the age of the roof, HVAC and all major mechanical items before purchasing a property.  I'm not exactly sure how but it looks like it was just a miscommunication on our part if you felt like we were unwilling to go and find that information for you.  I'm sorry about that. 

We love working with new and experienced investors.  Of course, properties are selling quicker today due to increased investor demand and extremely low interest rates, but our client on-boarding process is there to prepare you appropriately and give you as much time as possible to make a confident decision.  

Please let me now if you'd like my team to reach back out and set up another phone call with you.  Have a great day!

Hi @David Shapira - Yes, we'd love to have you watch the show.  It's called The Not Your Average Investor Show and we do it live every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30pm ET.  You can register to watch the show for free by going to www.jwbshow.com.

Once you register once, you'll receive links for all future shows. 

You can watch past episodes at www.nyais.com.

See you there!

Hi @Lexie Wang - Thanks for bringing this up. I'm one of the owners of JWB and I'd be happy to help.

It looks like there was a miscommunication on our part here. We always encourage our clients to do their due diligence prior to buying investment properties with us or in any other fashion. We believe it is better to move slow when it comes to on-boarding a new client and property selection because it gives everyone the opportunity to make sure the goals and the working relationship are in complete alignment and that everyone is comfortable.

I'm not sure how we misspoke on this but I can tell it landed on you the wrong way and I apologize for that.

It is fair to ask the details on major mechanical systems / appliances in the property. It isn't micro-managing and you shouldn't just trust what JWB or anyone else says because they have a good reputation.

As far as sending properties are concerned, we do not send out lists of properties from which to choose. We spend more time up front on a few phone calls to make sure there is an alignment of goals and then provide a curated collection of properties that meet the criteria for you to choose from. We've been investing in the same 4 neighborhoods in Jacksonville for the last 15 years and all of our properties produce roughly the same est. return on investment within a small range of price points and rent amounts so there's no incentive to "wait for a good deal" or go through dozens of potential offerings. If you love the team, the market and the investing model, the properties are all widgets at that point.

Thanks again for bringing up your concerns and I hope we have the opportunity to serve you in the future.

Thank you to all of the clients who shared their experience.

@Eric Ashby - Thanks for updating the thread with your real-world experience.  I'm sorry it couldn't work out for us but wish you the best in the future.  We do rely a lot on our experience and systems in order to maximize the return on investment for a client but we would never want to come across as though we aren't willing to listen to our clients.  Sorry if that is how it landed on you.  

@Kareem Johnson - Great question about what are B neighborhoods in Jacksonville.  The truth is I usually stay away from A,B,C and D ratings because they are highly subjective in residential rental properties.  However, an easy way to judge for yourself is looking at market values in certain neighborhood.  The median home sales price in Jacksonville right now is $267,000.  B markets are going to be right around that number.  

Keep in mind this is a very generic way to analyzing this and I'm sure many people on this forum will be able to poke holes in it.  Like many have noted in this forum, your best way to understand which neighborhoods are the best to invest in given a specific real estate market is to work with a seasoned professional in that area.

For what it's worth, these are the zip codes in which I invest in Jacksonville: 32210, 32244, 32205, 32254, 32209, 32208, 32218, 32207, 32211.  I find the best risk-adjusted returns on investment are found in below-middle income neighborhoods where we also perform the property management because that's why you need to go for positive cash flow and above-average home price appreciation. 

@George G. - Just want to point out that Fortune Builders is not the same company as Fortune Foreclosures.  I invested with Fortune Builders about 15 years ago for their education programs and have had a great experience with them.  Since 2006 we've bought over 3,000 properties and much of our success is due to the relationship we've had with their organization.  

I have never done business with Fortune Foreclosures but it's terrible to hear the stories on this post regarding this company.