Banker · Chapin, SC · Member since 2016 · 30 posts · 5 votes
I've located a number of properties (I'm new w/ no offers) that are in lower income neighborhoods...a number of which are F&C or very little is owed. If I could acquire one of these would it be a good idea? many of them are on streets where all the houses are run down...HOwever you can go 1 or 2 streets over and find same style homes, same age etc...that have been reasonably maintained. Do you want to be the guy that rehabs a house and comps against those knowing everybody else on your street lives in a dump. Sure it will comp nicely to the guy 1 street over, but the subject street is a POS...I would assume that in and of itself would impede the sale greatly after repairs....but I'm not sure...thought's....experiences...????
I would say it sounds like a bad idea, but I'll qualify that.
In Milwaukee you have a world of difference between two blocks, sometimes even the very next street, and while you might be able to find a dirt cheap property on that run down street, it would not be fair to comp it with the others, because anyone considering purchasing a home in the area will know which are the better and worse streets to live on. Comp with as close of houses (in terms of proximity and housing stock) that you possibly can.
That said, I'm sure there are investors that invest in war zones (although it's not clear to me that's the kind of area you're talking about), but I don't really know any here, and it's not a market I want to work. As they say, the deals in D areas are easy to find and hard to sell, and in A areas, hard to find and easy to sell.