Invest where the big money invests in Columbus Ohio - Single Family

One of the common questions I get from our clients is where should I invest for single family homes? While I try to talk the person out of that to investing in multifamily, there are benefits to both. So this article is for the person who wants to invest in Single Family Residences in Columbus Ohio. 

There is a company here in Franklin county / Columbus called American Homes 4 Rent. They own thousands of single family homes and over the past few years I've been watching them accumulate their real estate holdings. At the writing of this article, they own 247 properties in Franklin County. I believe they are all single family as well. What's interesting is that for such a large company, they have their purchasing criteria and have stuck to it. While there are benefits to owning multifamily properties, I believe they have their own reasons to invest in single family homes. So then, the answer becomes, where should I invest? 

Well, I would say follow the big money. That could be argued, but this is private equity / hedge fund that is publicly traded and has continued to grow. Here are the zip codes they currently have holdings in sorted by highest to lowest:

The zip codes include 43004, 43110, 43123, 43119, 43026, 43125 among others. Here is a plot map of the holdings throughout the city of Columbus / Franklin County. 

You see the highest concentrations in Blacklick, Canal Winchester, Grove City, Galloway, Hilliard, and other areas of Columbus. 

This isn't meant to be an argument for where to invest, but it should be able to give you a good starting point for different areas that you may want to consider, given the number of houses this publicly traded company is purchasing!