All Forum Posts by: Pedro Duarte

Quote from @Richard Shepherd:

Hi Pedro. I'm also from Jersey and recently went to Jacksonville to try and pick out (my first) rental property for under $250k. The good news is that such properties exist. The bad is that the market for these properties is insane right now. Properties go into contract sight unseen,  bidding wars are to be expected and winning bids seem to be 10's of thousands over ask for these properties.  That said I did find a place and I'm under contract now. I was targeting downtown or within 2.5 miles of it. I found that downtown was quiet, not overly welcoming vibe,  but didn't feel unsafe. The neighborhood just north,  Springfield had beautiful housing stock, although it appears a Renaissance is underway there as some properties looked rundown and neglected, but lots of activity in construction and fixing them up.  In general I find this to be the case in other neighborhoods nearby. While riverside looks well established,  there is evidence that it became that way through a wave of gentrification as some houses here and there look neglected,  but again all the construction shows that such properties are being rehabbed. I find this trend further west in Murray hill and north of riverside in what Google calls Mixon town.  I did get lost in an area of town that showed lots of crime online (through one of those crime star websites) bordering the mid-westside and New Town and didn't feel like i was in danger. Not particularly welcoming,  but nothing like how dangerous it feels in south Jersey City. 

Richard

Thank you for your very insightful comment! As I mentioned, I read a lot about the city, but your comment was of great help being that you were actually in those neighborhoods and presented a different idea on them. Most of the times you see people telling you online to stay away from here and there without giving much detail. I am from Newark, which is notorious for being a dangerous place and it's not all true. There good and bad pockets here as there is with every big city, and I suppose these neighborhoods in Jacksonville are being judged in the same way. I am very glad that I got your response on this!

Quote from @Nate Sanow:

Philosophically I don’t love how we call things “bad neighborhoods “ but practically as a business person I get it. I like what you were saying that you are seeing lots of ownership, and pride and care for these areas. I think we would all be a little surprised to find out how many of these areas aren’t that bad across the country. At least that’s how I feel in my market where a lot of areas labeled this way have similar strong values. They aren’t necessarily bad just often older and cheaper and often have really wonderful people living there.

Thank you for posting Nate. I am happy to know that you've had a positive experience in working in these neighborhoods. In reading and researching we hear a lot about scary stories and so it's good to learn that there are 2 sides to it.

Quote from @Lesley Resnick:

Quote from @Pedro Duarte:

I did post this question before through the app but didn't get a chance to tag Jacksonville, so I'd like to post it here now hoping to get different opinions on this. I'm looking at properties to invest in Jacksonville, FL and have been researching its neighborhoods online because I'm in New Jersey. I looked up several websites with reviews of the best and worst neighborhoods and have read info in BP and other online forums about them. Yet, when I research those "bad" areas through Google Maps, I see pride of ownership with many well cared for building structures and landscaping. Even though there may be a higher number of crimes, it still seems to me like a neighborhood I won't have so much trouble with if I buy a rental property in it. I'm in Jersey and bad areas here have buildings with either broken or boarded up doors and windows, graffiti, trash, loitering, etc. This doesn't seem to be the case with the "bad" neighborhoods of Jacksonville, FL. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks!

Jacksonville is like any other American City.  There are A-F neighborhoods here.  To try to create a monolithic view of the city would be a mistake, it is the largest city by landmass.  There is great variability even among streets in the same neighborhood.  I have tenants in PP that have legitimately decorated their rentals, on a budget.  I had a tenant in the same neighborhood, well use your imagination, they were not fit to live with pigs.

While I can not quantify, the overall vibe of the city is positive, excited and growing.  Sadly, we are losing the sleepy little town feel.  There is new construction everywhere and companies are moving here with jobs.  The Jacksonville of my childhood is almost unrecognizable.  

Thank you for posting Lesley! It's good to read about success stories like the one you mentioned with your tenants. It goes to show that it's possible to pull off something like this. I will take that into consideration once I move to Jacksonville and start looking at properties!

Quote from @Roger Grubb:

Crimemap is IMHO the best source for actual crime with exact locations. You'll notice violent and non-violent crime neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods look nice but when you actually walk them it's a whole 'nuther story.  A few I've feared for my life, some not that bad but I still wouldn't invest there. You know Caveat Emptor...  If you don't want to fly down, a good agent can go a long way.

Hi Roger, so I have used that website, and I too think it's very useful. I would prefer to stay from those neighborhoods, but i'm not seeing any properties elsewhere that fit my desired budget. Still, I feel like there is a lot for me to learn about this... Not only about Jacksonville's neighborhoods, but also investing in rental properties. Thank you for your contribution

Quote from @Yasha Wells:

I’m located in Jacksonville. Which areas are you considering? 

Yasha, I'm considering pretty much anywhere where numbers make sense. I'm still in the research process for this. Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Quote from @Brad B.:

You may be noticing new builds in some of the lower income parts of town. These are likely turnkey rentals from one of the major investors in town (JWB) which I think is helping bring up some of those neighborhoods. Jacksonville has its bad areas but if you are seeing pride of ownership, that’s not one of them. 

 Thank you for your response Brad. Your input certainly makes me more confident about the possibility of investing in neighborhoods like the ones I'm seeing.

I did post this question before through the app but didn't get a chance to tag Jacksonville, so I'd like to post it here now hoping to get different opinions on this. I'm looking at properties to invest in Jacksonville, FL and have been researching its neighborhoods online because I'm in New Jersey. I looked up several websites with reviews of the best and worst neighborhoods and have read info in BP and other online forums about them. Yet, when I research those "bad" areas through Google Maps, I see pride of ownership with many well cared for building structures and landscaping. Even though there may be a higher number of crimes, it still seems to me like a neighborhood I won't have so much trouble with if I buy a rental property in it. I'm in Jersey and bad areas here have buildings with either broken or boarded up doors and windows, graffiti, trash, loitering, etc. This doesn't seem to be the case with the "bad" neighborhoods of Jacksonville, FL. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks!

I'm looking at properties to invest in Jacksonville, FL and have been researching its neighborhoods online because I'm in New Jersey. I looked up several websites with reviews of the best and worst neighborhoods and have read info in BP and other online forums about them. Yet, when I research those "bad" areas through Google Maps, I see pride of ownership with many well cared for building structures and landscaping. Even though there may be a higher number of crimes, it still seems to me like a neighborhood I won't have so much trouble with if I buy a rental property in it. I'm in Jersey and bad areas here have buildings with either broken or boarded up doors and windows, graffiti, trash, loitering, etc. This doesn't seem to be the case with the "bad" neighborhoods of Jacksonville, FL. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks!

@Jacksonville, FL

@Travis Hammonds

Thank you for your response! Yes conventional wisdom states that we're stronger in teams so it's a good idea to approach other investors with this in mind.

However, the concept of the value I can add to another investor or a team (at least without sacrificing myself) and vice versa is still abstract to me. Don't get me wrong, I am sure there is, and I'm here to learn this and prove to myself that my notions are outdated.

I will be very happy to connect with you while we venture into this somewhat unknown territory!

@Taylor Dasch

Thank you very much for shedding light on this. Reason I asked is because I plan on reaching out to other investors in the area to ask for help and leads, but wanted to have a better understanding on how they think.

Right I understand that my one house development will not develop the rest of the neighborhood, but what if a bunch of investors teamed up to launch a coordinated development of a bad neighborhood. Haven't given a thorough thought on the challenges but that would be pretty cool.