Categories to compare cities to invest in

[Keisha D Dobney-Boykin]

Hello everyone, I'm not holding myself to any specific area to invest since my W-2 job moves me around the country.

Not sure if this matters but my goal is to own apartments. I have a list of cities on spreadsheet but I'm not sure if I'm thinking creatively in what categories I'm using to compare.

So far I have the following:

A. Crime rates

B. Schools

C. Income levels

D. Employment

E. Overall growth of the city

(This seems to short)

I know I need to look at this from the perspective of an investor and I'm think I'm off track. I feel like I'm looking at this for my personal home.

Any advice is helpful, thanks.

[Jeffrey Donis]

• Some things we look for when picking markets:
• 1. Population over 200,000
• 2. Long-term population growth of at least 50% of the national average (preferably more)
• 3. Diverse economy
• 4. Labor participation rate at or above national average
• 5. High relative cap rates
• 6. Pro-business, pro-landlord climate
• 7. Limited risk from climate change
• 8. Close enough to home for you to oversee easily (one-day round-trip preferred)
• 9. “Anchor” is a bonus – not necessary, but great to have. Avoid bad anchors, though