Jacksonville Realtor

Single-family house with a lawn and trees

Call (904) 309-0609

 Why the phone is (904) 309-0609

(904) 309-0609 is the brokerage number. You are calling Military Realty of Florida. You are not calling a lead desk that bought a click and then sold your name to whichever agent answered a round-robin. The person on this number can talk about the file. If another agent on the team is the better fit, that handoff happens inside this office. The file stays here.

Matt owns the company. Broker-owner means the person responsible for the work is not a brand name in another city with a local sticker on the website. He did the PCS as the service member. He also holds a Florida building-contractor registration, which is useful on the houses this market actually has: older ranches, roofs a VA appraiser will question, flood-zone lots, and wood rot that a listing photo will not show.

The people who work files are listed on the agent page. You do not have to guess a name before you call. Start with the office number. Say whether you are buying, selling, or doing both, and which side of the river the orders point to.

A call center can book a tour. It cannot tell you that a pretty kitchen in Jacksonville Beach is a bad daily drive to the air station, or that a bank addendum and a VA appraisal are two different tests. That conversation is the reason this number exists. Text or call the same line. Email chains with three handoffs are how report dates get missed.

 Three bases, three drives

Jacksonville and Duval County are mostly the same government. They consolidated. The beach cities and the Town of Baldwin stayed separate cities inside the county. The county is large. Treating "the Navy base" as one dot on the map is how families buy the wrong house. NAS Jacksonville, Naval Station Mayport, and Blount Island Command do not share a commute, a flood map, or a Saturday.

NAS Jacksonville, west bank

Naval Air Station Jacksonville is on the west bank of the St. Johns, south of downtown. Ortega and much of the Westside are the Duval neighborhoods on that side of the drive. The south side of the base backs up to Orange Park, which is Clay County, not Duval. Roosevelt Boulevard and Blanding Boulevard carry a lot of station traffic. The south gate puts people onto the Clay side of those roads.

A house that is easy for this gate can be a poor choice for Mayport. Mandarin is still on the south side of the metro, across the river from the air station, and people do it. The beaches are a cross-county trip in the other direction. We will not put a beach house on a short list for a west-bank report date unless you have already said you want that drive. Clay County schools are a different district from Duval. If the house is in Orange Park, run the Clay locator. A neighbor's guess about a magnet is not a zone.

Naval Station Mayport, on the Atlantic

Naval Station Mayport sits at the mouth of the St. Johns, beside the Mayport neighborhood, on the Atlantic. Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Jacksonville Beach are their own cities, and they are still inside Duval County. Arlington is the inland approach from downtown, between the river and the Intracoastal. People also come down from the Northside or across from the Southside. Each of those is a different morning.

Ponte Vedra and Nocatee are south of the beach cities, in St. Johns County. They are not Duval houses, and they are not a Mayport neighborhood with a Duval tax bill. If the orders are Mayport and the house you like is across that county line, say so on the first call. The school district changes, the homestead desk changes, and the drive back to the basin at the end of a watch is the thing we want named before you fall for a kitchen.

Blount Island, north of the river

Blount Island Command is on the north side of the St. Johns. It is a Marine Corps prepositioning site. The island is where the work is. It is not a housing neighborhood with a gate and a commissary street of houses behind it. People stationed there usually shop the Northside, Arlington, or, when the bridge they want to use makes sense, the beaches.

Heckscher Drive runs out toward the island. The Dames Point bridge, on I-295, crosses the river north of downtown. A Mandarin house, which can be reasonable for some NAS Jacksonville families, points the wrong direction for this gate. Yulee, in Nassau County, is another conversation: different county, different property appraiser, different school district. We will map it. We will not pretend it is a Jacksonville city neighborhood.

Local buyers use the same map. A job at the port, a job downtown, a job on Gate Parkway, and a job in Orange Park are four commutes. Tell us the workplace the way a sailor tells us the gate. The house follows that, not a slogan about the First Coast.

 What a VA file actually needs

A VA loan is a benefit with paperwork, not a slogan on a yard sign. The VA loan center on this site walks through eligibility, the Certificate of Eligibility, funding fee rules, the appraisal, and entitlement in Jacksonville terms. Use it. Then call, because the house still has to pass.

A pre-qualification is a conversation. A pre-approval is a credit pull plus documents an underwriter has looked at. A clear-to-close comes later, after the contract, the appraisal, the title work, and the conditions. We do not promise a same-day approval. A clean W-2 file with pay stubs, W-2s, bank statements, and an ID can move in a few days. A PCS file also needs the LES, orders or a letter in lieu, the Certificate of Eligibility, and a plain explanation of the housing allowance on the LES. Bring those. Do not ask this page for a rate. We do not publish a rate, and a rate without the payment after taxes, insurance, and any association dues is not a house payment.

You will occupy the house. That is a VA rule and, later, the homestead test in different words. An investor plan and a VA purchase loan are a mismatch. Tell the lender the truth on occupancy before anyone writes an offer.

The house has its own test. Roof, mechanicals, safety, and, where the map says so, flood insurance. A condo or a townhouse still has to clear the project for the loan type. A single-family house does not have that project approval, and it still has to meet the VA minimum property requirements. Septic is a different inspection from city sewer. None of that is waived because the benefit allows zero down on a full-entitlement file.

Our preferred lenders are the ones we send VA and conventional files to because they close houses in this market. You may bring your own lender. If you do, they still need to know condo approvals, septic, and flood insurance on the First Coast. A lender who has never seen a Duval condo questionnaire will learn it on your report date. That is a bad classroom.

 What the first call covers

Call (904) 309-0609. Have a pen. The call is short if you already know the answers, and it is still worth having before anyone builds a list.

Who is moving, and who else is on the deed or the loan. Orders, a local job, or both. The report date or the lease end, whichever is forcing the calendar. The gate or the workplace. The monthly number you can live with, including the tax and insurance you do not get to skip. Whether you are selling a house in this town or in the last town. Whether a VA loan, an FHA loan, a conventional loan, or cash is the plan, and whether a lender has already pulled credit.

If the loan is VA, say whether you already have a Certificate of Eligibility. If you do not, the lender can usually pull it, and waiting until the day you want to write is how offers get weak. If a prior VA loan is still open, say that too. Entitlement left on the certificate is a lender question. We will not guess it on the phone.

Pets, a needed single-story, a shop building, a fenced yard, and school-age children belong on this call. School boundaries are looked up at the district, not remembered from a duty station five years ago. Duval County Public Schools cover Duval, including the beach cities and Baldwin. Clay, St. Johns, Nassau, and Columbia each have their own district. The county line is the district line. We will send you to the district locator. We will not invent a grade or a magnet assignment.

What the call does not do: it does not lock an interest rate, it does not file your homestead, and it does not replace an inspection. It also does not promise that a house will appraise. It ends with a next step. Usually that step is the lender packet, then a short list on the correct side of the river, then showings.

If you are selling, the address is enough to start. We will talk about access, the tenants or the family still in the house, and what a recent set of closed sales in that same subdivision, at a similar bed count, actually supports. A wish price is not a pricing method. The net sheet, including the Florida deed stamps and the costs your listing agreement actually names, comes before a sign goes in the yard. Commission is whatever that agreement says. It is not a state-mandated percent.

 How showings work

We schedule showings with the listing office. You do not knock on a door because a photo looked good at midnight. Occupied houses need notice. Vacant houses are usually a lockbox, and the appointment is still on the book so two families are not in the kitchen at once. If the seller is home, we keep the visit to the point.

The short list is built for the commute you named, not for twenty houses across the whole county in one Saturday. Tired buyers write bad offers. If one spouse is still at the last duty station, we can put the tour on video. You should still lay eyes on the house, in person or on a long live walk-through, before you give up the right to walk away. The inspection period in the contract is that right. Think hard before you waive it, especially on an older Florida house.

On the first visit we look at the unglamorous parts. The roof from the street. Soft wood at the fascia, the window sills, and the trim. The age of the air conditioner if the data plate is readable. The panel. Standing water, a ditch, or a river lot that means you open the FEMA flood map before you get attached. Whether the house is on sewer or septic. Whether the drive you just made is the drive you would make before a watch. The kitchen can be nice and the house can still be the wrong file.

A second visit is normal before an offer. Use it for the rooms you rushed, the backyard, and the street at a different time of day. Bring the questions the lender will ask later: flood zone, condo project if there is an association, and whether anything obvious will fail a VA or FHA appraisal. We would rather lose a Saturday than lose a contract on a roof everyone could see from the curb.

After the visit, we say what we think. Some houses are a fit. Some are a project a loan will not fund. Some are fine houses on the wrong side of the county for your gate. You can say no. The buying steps on this site are the longer version of offer, inspection, appraisal, and close. The showing is the front of that, not the whole of it.

Base access does not replace a showing appointment. If you already have a badge for NAS Jacksonville or Mayport, that gets you on the installation. It does not get you into a house off base. Off-base houses are scheduled like any other listing.

 Local moves, not only PCS

A lot of the work is military. A lot of it is not. People already in Mandarin, Arlington, Orange Park, or the beaches call the same number when they need a different house, or when they need to sell the one they have. The first call is the same shape: timeline, loan or cash, and which county the next house will sit in.

Selling while you buy is two files. The sale has to be priced off closed sales, and the purchase has to survive an appraisal. If you need the sale in order to buy, the lender has to know that at pre-approval, not the week of closing. We will not stack a wish price on the sale and a wish house on the purchase and call it a plan.

Florida has no state income tax on wages. The carrying cost people under-budget is local: property tax, insurance, and, on some houses, an association or a flood policy. Those numbers are property-specific. We do not quote a countywide insurance premium, because there is not one. Get the quote on the house you actually want, during the inspection period, from an insurer who will write that roof and that flood zone.

 After closing, which county desk

Homestead is an exemption from part of the property tax on your permanent residence. It is filed with the property appraiser in the county where the house is, under Florida Statutes sections 196.031 and 196.011. The closing attorney records the deed. The closing attorney does not file your homestead. The prior owner's exemption does not follow the house. Their Save Our Homes cap does not follow the house. If they take portability, that benefit goes with them to their next Florida homestead, on Form DR-501T filed with the new county. It is not a coupon left on your door.

You must own the house, legal or equitable title, and occupy it as your permanent residence on January 1 of the tax year you want. One permanent residence. A residency-based exemption in another state can knock out the Florida exemption. The Social Security number is mandatory. A wrongful exemption can create a lien, a 50 percent penalty, and 15 percent interest under section 196.161. A clerical error by the appraiser is treated differently.

As of fall 2026. The timely window for the 2026 tax year is closed. March 1, 2026 fell on a Sunday, so the timely deadline was Monday, March 2, 2026. St. Johns County and Nassau County both published that. Late filing is only for extenuating circumstances, and it generally runs until 25 days after the county mails the TRIM notice. Do not assume that late window is still open. Ask the appraiser for that county on the day you call.

If you close in the fall of 2026 and you occupy the house by January 1, 2027, you file for the 2027 tax year by March 1, 2027. Nassau has already opened 2027 applications. The other counties will take a 2027 filing on their own calendars. File with the county where the house sits, not with the county you left.

For 2026, the numbers the Florida Department of Revenue published, and that the St. Johns County Property Appraiser has confirmed, are these. The first $25,000 of assessed value comes off all levies, including school taxes. The additional exemption is $26,411. It applies only to non-school levies, and only to assessed value between $50,000 and $76,411. The band from $25,001 to $50,000 stays taxable. The CPI change used for that additional amount is 2.7 percent. Save Our Homes for 2026 limits how fast an existing homestead's assessed value can rise: 2.7 percent, the lesser of 3 percent or the CPI change. That is a cap on assessed value, not a cap on the tax bill. A buyer does not inherit it.

There is a local-option extra exemption for some residents who are 65 on January 1, tied to a household income limit of $38,686 for 2026. Counties adopt it or they do not. A separate long-term senior option also exists. Do not assume any county grants an extra $50,000. Ask that county's appraiser. After a homestead is approved, it renews. The appraiser mails a renewal. You refile if ownership, marital status, or residency changes. If a trust holds the house, you need beneficial title. Bring the trust. Have the closing attorney, or a Florida attorney, confirm that the trust qualifies. This page cannot make that call.

Duval County, the full steps

Most of Jacksonville, the three beach cities, and Baldwin are Duval County houses. The desk is the Duval County Property Appraiser. Online filing is at homestead.coj.net. The phone is (904) 255-5900. In person: 231 E. Forsyth Street, Suite 260, Jacksonville, FL 32202.

The deed has to be in your name before the online system will accept the application. The office says to allow about 60 days after closing for the deed to post. If it has not posted and you are inside a deadline, file in person. Do not wait on a website that will not take the file yet.

The online session does not save. Plan about an hour, and finish it in one sitting. Have a Florida driver license or Florida ID that shows the homestead address, including the license number and the issue date. Have the vehicle tag. Have voter registration if you are registered to vote. Have your date of birth, your Social Security number, the date you became a Florida resident, the date you occupied the house, the purchase date, and the mailing address on your last IRS return.

Adding a person to an existing homestead, or adding an extra exemption onto one that is already on the roll, has to be done in person. Spouses should both be ready with residency proof. If one of you still claims a residency exemption in another state, fix that before you file. The appraiser will ask.

Portability, if you are bringing a Save Our Homes difference from another Florida homestead, is Form DR-501T. You file it with Duval, the new county, generally at the same time as the new homestead application. The statute caps what can transfer. Bring the prior TRIM notice. We will not invent a dollar amount of savings.

The appraiser sets the value. The taxing authorities set the millage. There is no single Duval rate that covers a house in Baldwin, a house at the beaches, and a house in Mandarin, because city and special-district lines differ. Read the TRIM notice for that parcel. Do not budget off a county average or off the seller's bill.

The bill comes from the Duval County Tax Collector, not from the appraiser. The collector's pages are jacksonville.gov tax collector and duvaltc.com. Phone (904) 255-5700. Email taxcollector@coj.net. Main office: 231 E. Forsyth Street. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The deed itself records at the Duval County Clerk of Courts.

The Duval Tax Collector has published the statewide-style discount on the bill: 4 percent if paid by November 30, 3 percent by December 31, 2 percent by January 31, 1 percent by February 28, then due by March 31 before it is delinquent. Other Florida counties use the same discount statute. Confirm the due date on the bill in front of you. Schools for a Duval house are Duval County Public Schools, at duvalschools.org. That includes the beach cities and Baldwin. It does not include a house across the county line.

Clay County, the difference that matters

Orange Park, Fleming Island, Middleburg, Green Cove Springs, and the rest of Clay are not a Duval filing. The property appraiser is Tracy Scott Drake. The site is ccpao.com. Online homestead is at exemption.ccpao.com. Phone (904) 284-6305, extension 1. The office is the County Administration Building, second floor, 477 Houston Street, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043. Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The difference that matters: a timely Clay application can be filed online, by mail, or in person. The office's own instructions say an application after the March 1 deadline must be filed in person, with a written explanation of why it is late, and only up to 25 days after the TRIM notice. Do not mail a late Clay file and assume it counts. Proof they ask for is a Florida driver license or ID at the homestead address, plus one more item, such as a voter card, vehicle registration, W-2, federal return, or utility bill.

The Clay tax bill comes from Tax Collector Diane Hutchings, at claycountytax.com, phone (904) 269-6320. The property-tax line is (904) 269-6395. Mail can go to PO Box 218, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043. Schools are the Clay County district, at oneclay.net. There is no single Clay millage. Orange Park and an unincorporated Middleburg address can sit on different stacks of county, school, city or MSTU, and special districts. Read that parcel's TRIM notice.

St. Johns County, the difference that matters

A house in St. Johns County, including the areas just south of Duval that people shop from Jacksonville, is filed with the St. Johns County Property Appraiser, Eddie Creamer. Start at the homestead and portability page and the exemptions page. Phone (904) 827-5500. Email sjcpa@sjcpa.gov. The online portal covers homestead, portability, and other exemptions.

The difference that matters: the Florida driver license or ID must show the homestead address. Licenses updated after November 1, 2023 may have been reissued with a new number. Upload the updated license, not a photo of the old card. A non-U.S. citizen applicant uses a permanent resident card. A trust filing needs the pages that show beneficial ownership. Neither spouse may hold a residency exemption in another state. The tax collector is at sjctax.us, phone (904) 209-2250, main office 4030 Lewis Speedway, St. Augustine. Schools are the St. Johns County School District.

Nassau County, the difference that matters

Yulee, Fernandina Beach, and Callahan are Nassau County. The property appraiser is A. Michael Hickox. The homestead page is ncpafl.com. Phone (904) 491-7300. Toll free 1-888-615-4398. Offices, from the county's new-resident guide revised March 6, 2026: the main office at 96135 Nassau Place, Suite 4, Yulee, FL 32097; the Historic Courthouse at 416 Centre Street, Fernandina Beach; and the Callahan County Building at 45401 Mickler Street, Callahan.

The difference that matters: 2027 applications are already open, online or in person. A 2026 purchase that is your permanent residence on January 1, 2027 can be filed for 2027 through March 1, 2027, and it shows on the August 2027 TRIM. The 2026 applications closed March 2, 2026. Both spouses need Florida residency documents: driver license with the address, vehicle registration, Nassau voter registration if they vote, and the Social Security number. The tax collector is John M. Drew, at nassautaxes.com, phone (904) 491-7400, main office 86130 License Road, Fernandina Beach. Schools are the Nassau County School District.

Columbia County, the difference that matters

Lake City is Columbia County, west on I-10. It is the county seat. It is not a Duval suburb for schools or for taxes. The property appraiser is Jeff Hampton. The office site is columbia.floridapa.com. Phone (386) 758-1083. Email contact@ccpafl.com. The office is 135 NE Hernando Avenue, Suite 238, Lake City, FL 32055. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. The exemptions page is ccpafl.com exemptions.

The difference that matters: the initial homestead application must be filed in person at that office. Do not send the packet to a third-party website that claims it will file Florida homestead online. The on-time window they publish is January 1 to March 1. Late filing runs to the 25th day after the TRIM notice, and they say to contact the office. Bring the deed or the contract, a Florida ID at the address, the Social Security number, and one more proof of residency. The tax collector is at columbiataxcollector.com, phone (386) 758-1080, 135 NE Hernando Avenue, Suite 125, Lake City, FL 32055. The Northeast Florida MLS may not carry Columbia County. A Jacksonville search will not stand in for a Lake City house, and the homestead desk is still Jeff Hampton's office either way.

 What to do next

Call (904) 309-0609 with the gate or the town, the loan type, and the date you have to be in the house. If you are selling, start with the address. We will tell you whether the next step is a lender, a short list, or a pricing conversation. We will also tell you which county desk gets the homestead after you close, because a Duval filing will not stick on a Clay, St. Johns, Nassau, or Columbia house.

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Military Realty of Florida. (904) 309-0609.