North Kansas City vs North East Kansas City Rentals

[Zach White]

Hey BP family! I am starting my journey in getting that first rental property. I am at a bit of a crossroads and hoped you all could help me with some experience. So I was recently approved for an FHA loan and my goal is to either get into a multifamily property (likely 2-3 units) or get into a single family home that just needs to be updated, fix it up a a bit and then turn it into a rental after a year or so. I know of the constraints with buying a property with an FHA loan so I of course am open to taking out a conventional loan as well. My question is this, in your experience has North KC as in North of the river and across the bridge or Northeast KC, over by Budd Park between Benton Road and Belmont from Gladstone Blvd to about Sheffield, seen better returns? Are either of these areas I should avoid being a new investor or are there "pockets" of areas to avoid in those to locations? I drove around both areas this past weekend and saw a lot of inconsistency in the quality of the areas so I just wanted to get the insight from the experts. Thanks in advance!

[Steven May]

I agree with Lee's points above. And yes 5% conventional is what I utilized for my live in fixer upper. 6 months later I forced 30k in equity and dropped PMI and was able to get a HELOC after 1 year of living there.