I hope this isn't a stupid question, but...

[Jennifer Clark]

When buying a potential rental property (to BRRRR) how important is property value (going in) ?

For example I've been looking at properties on realtor.com and many of the homes have property values that are down 8% to 23%. 

Do I only want to buy properties with values that are increasing ? Those seem to be few and far between in the communities I have been researching. 

[Andrew Glenn]

Context: compared to others on the forum, I'm barely learning to sit up. With that said, here's my take...

Dropping property values are a sign you may want to check out the neighborhood. For us, we ask ourselves "would we want to live here". If the answer is no, we try to shy away, but that's  because reflection of out risk tolerance. 

I think it's worth looking at values in your area as a whole.  If everything is going down, well, than an 8% dip may not be a big deal. Especially if you are in a local bubble  

For BRRRR / buy and hold, I feel it's a good idea to see what the rents are in the area. A 500 PITI payment won't work well if average rent is 550...

Others on here are sure to provide more intelligent answers. Good luck!