Investing in Tulsa - duplex evaluation

[Sam Huang]

Hey BiggerPockets fam,

I used to live in Tulsa, but now I am OOS and would like to continue to invest there as it meets our goals.

Would you invest in a new construction duplex like this? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lWz4pirkXlbpASNKBMV1RIpp...

Cost: $360K

Rents: ~2800/month (both units combined)

Area: West Tulsa (not the best area in town but pockets of West Tulsa are good and in close proximity to downtown). I would consider this a B- area.

Cashflow with current interest rates and 25%. down would be ~200/month. If our goal is long-term buy-and-hold and currently in accumulation phase, would you invest in this area and duplex?

[Bryce Jamison]

I prefer to invest in properties that I can physically get to relatively easily, but since you know the area well, and if you feel like you have a team there locally that can help you I don't see anything wrong with investing there.

My 2 concerns are that this area might actually be a C- neighborhood because I like to over estimate my property grades, and that the $200 a month cashflow won't cover your expenses. If the $200 is rent minus PITI it definitely won't cover your expenses. If it's rent - PITI - CAP/OPEX it most likely won't cover your expenses if anything more than a few hundred pops up.

With today's interest rates I would consider buying a property I really liked even with only $200 in monthly cashflow, but I would want to have high confidence there is high appreciation potential. A C/B property isn't the type of property I want low cashflow on. Typically these "bigger headache" properties come with higher cashflow that make the headache worth it.