November Realty Trac Foreclosure Activity - Atlantic City NJ

[Lafontant Cherilus]

Just saw the Realty Trac November Foreclosure report.  Given the job losses / casino closings in Atlantic City - Foreclosure activity jumped y/y in November.  Would you invest there (given shortage of jobs?) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCPoCyLIK7s&feature=youtu.be

[Kurt Kwart]

There is a lot at play here @Lafontant Cherilus but it is my local market.  I bought two sfr in AC about a year ago and have some other rentals in the area.  You can easily get 2% rule and over 3% but there are a lot of other things to consider.  

Gaming is expanding in other areas but is a dying industry.  The buses of seniors pumping their SS checks into slots is over for this town and now seems to go to wherever the closest casino is.  There also looks to be issues where gaming has expanded with a bailout in Delaware and financial issues in other states (granted bankruptcy is very common even with successful companies as Caesars globally is doing right now) but the point is you need much more than just gambling.

 Millennials do not like to gamble but do like to spend money eating, drinking and dancing.  Non-gambling spending (food and hotel occupancy) has been on the rise.  The nightclubs here are extremely successful.  I see this as a positive trend for the area, we are two hours from NYC and one hour from Philadelphia.  New Jersey has its share of issues but the state is packed full of people and businesses and is located in a prime area.  

Overall with a new mayor and state involvement, I think things are moving in a positive direction politically.  I'm not discounting the cut in jobs for the closed casinos but other casino have been adding jobs and there are more retails jobs coming in.  Stockton College has just bought the old Showboat casino and casino winnings have increased for the remaining open properties.  

To address some of you points @Trevor Ewen I discount anything Trump does and he has basically been out for a while (also he has no casino in Vegas, just a resort/condo/time share tower so I don't think you can write off a market because Trump isn't in it).  Let's look at Carl Ichan who is running the Tropicana profitability and is doing his part to keep the Taj open.  Sure that article makes it look bad and all the back and forth on closing doesn't help.  Ichan seems committed to keeping it open and working out a deal.  

As someone looking for good cash flow and low costs to entry the area is working but maybe I'll be broke in 5 years.