It’s the first week of our market spotlight series … and we’re starting with a city that has been on our radar for a while … Jacksonville, Florida!
There’s a lot to like about this Northeast Florida city. To start, it’s the fourth largest economy in Florida and has the largest population in the state … which means HUGE opportunities for real estate investors.
Listen in as we visit with some of our favorite boots-on-the-ground experts and explore all Jacksonville has to offer.
In this episode of The Real Estate Guys™ show you’ll hear from:
- Your sunshine-loving host, Robert Helms
- His sunny-side-over co-host, Russell Gray
- President and co-founder of Southern Impression Homes, Chris Funk
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Why Jacksonville?
There are so many places for you to invest in real estate. So, for the next few weeks we are highlighting some of the markets we find interesting this year.
Jacksonville, Florida, is a place we have been looking at for a long time because there are SO MANY reasons to like it.
Jacksonville has the largest population in Florida and the fourth largest economy. And did we mention it’s a no-income-tax state?
Florida is the No. 1 location that baby boomers choose to retire in, but the year-round sun attracts younger tenants too. Variety and diversity is the name of the game.
Whether you’re a single-family-home investor or are interested in multifamily properties or even vacation ownership, Jacksonville is full of possibilities.
Opportunities for high returns in new construction
Our guest today is Chris Funk of Southern Impression Homes. Chris started out in the dry-cleaning business … and then the ’08 crash happened.
Like many business owners, Chris lost about 20 percent of his revenue. He needed to find a new source of cashflow. What he found was real estate.
Ultimately, Chris bought up about 25 homes. He bought them cheap, renovated them, and rented them out. The cash came in … and Chris was hooked.
He expanded his portfolio and soon went from buying 50 houses a year to buying 50 houses a month!
The biggest challenge for Chris was finding good property management, so he decided to do it himself.
Before he knew it, Chris was running a large property management company and expanding from renovations to land purchasing and new construction in Jacksonville.
Chris says that renovating older homes is still his bread and butter, but he realized there are great opportunities for profits from new construction.
New homes come with limited maintenance costs, and when you build from the ground up, you have 100 percent control over every aspect of the build.
New construction is often more attractive to tenants … much of the growing labor force in Jacksonville has chosen to settle in new construction.
And more interested potential tenants means properties are more attractive to investors like you.
It’s this aspect of business that makes Chris’ approach to the market unique. Instead of focusing on selling to individual owner-occupants, Chris tries to sell most of his inventory to investors.
“Investors have been our lifeblood ever since we started in our real estate business,” Chris says. “We’re investors ourselves, and we built our property management company as a company that is built by investors for investors.”
Chris says he doesn’t want to just sell a house and go away. He wants to become part of the investor’s team on the ground and manage their assets … all of them!
It’s a long-term opportunity instead of a one-time sell. And investors who work with Chris do more business, more often.
Investment opportunity in Jacksonville isn’t confined to single-family homes. Chris knows this and builds new duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes as well.
Like many other markets, the cash-on-cash yield for a multifamily property is higher than that for a single-family home … but you do give up some appreciation.
One of the most attractive elements of the Jacksonville market is affordability. Single-family homes range from $150,000 to about $200,000. The highest priced fourplexes clock in at about $550,000.
What investors need to know
Jacksonville … like the rest of the sunshine state … has had double digit population growth every year since the census was created.
It’s not a town full of retirees either. Young professionals settle there to take advantage of affordable prices and job opportunities.
The city has a booming financial district with major corporations like Fidelity National Title, Ameris Bank, and Wells Fargo.
There’s also a thriving industrial sector. Companies from Coach to Mercedes and FedEx have major distribution centers in the metro area.
The United States military maintains a large presence in Jacksonville … and they are expanding their ranks.
From a tenant perspective, Southern Impression Homes General Manager Chandler Janger says this means the average resident is middle to upper middle working class … largely reliable and looking for a great home at a great price.
By keeping property management in-house, Southern Impression Homes can give investors in-depth insight into each of their properties. An online portal offers instant access to occupancy, payment, and tenant information.
Owners are paid electronically the month after rent collection and receive a monthly statement broken down by property.
Chandler says if there’s one thing investors should know, it’s that communication is key. In property management, there are a lot of moving parts … clear communication makes everyone’s job easier.
With great teams in place on the ground and beautiful properties, Jacksonville is a market worth looking into.
To discover if Jacksonville is a good fit for your portfolio, check out the Jacksonville Market Report prepared by Chris and his team at Southern Impression Homes.
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