Real Estate Broker · Durham, NC · Member since 2020 · 49 posts · 42 votes
Hello everybody.
I am a commercial broker in Durham, NC and work with a lot of investors looking for all types of income producing properties. I am just now starting to look for personal investment properties.
From my experience working with investors in Durham, it seems like an extremely tough market for anything under $250,000. I have also done some work in Alamance County (Burlington, Mebane, Graham, Etc) because I have a hunch that market is going to explode. However, I am not nearly as familiar with that market like I am with Durham. Alamance is perfectly located between two growing markets, the Triad and Triangle, and there are a lot of big manufacturers moving to the county.
I was showing one of my listings in Burlington to a residential agent and she claimed she had investors/flippers in Alamance making $100,000 or more per flip.
I was just curious if anyone on here is actively investing in the Alamance market, whether it is buy and hold, flipping, etc. Just want to know if it’s a market I should consider.
Hi @Graham Storey, I bought two rentals in Burlington due to the much better cashflow potential than what's currently possible in Durham. Like you've pointed out, I also appreciate the location between the triad and the triangle and the big manufacturing presence, Elon, and Lab Corps. I've seen lots of others speak favorably of the area on the forums here, and definitely felt the investor competition while I was looking to purchase (I found that I needed to make strong cash offers within a few hours of a property coming on the market). My assessment has been that it's primarily a buy-and-hold cashflow market, but I'm also not as in touch with the flipping side of the business. Hopefully other folks with more experience will chime in!
Hi @Graham Storey, I bought two rentals in Burlington due to the much better cashflow potential than what's currently possible in Durham. Like you've pointed out, I also appreciate the location between the triad and the triangle and the big manufacturing presence, Elon, and Lab Corps. I've seen lots of others speak favorably of the area on the forums here, and definitely felt the investor competition while I was looking to purchase (I found that I needed to make strong cash offers within a few hours of a property coming on the market). My assessment has been that it's primarily a buy-and-hold cashflow market, but I'm also not as in touch with the flipping side of the business. Hopefully other folks with more experience will chime in!
@Annchen Knodt Thanks so much for this information it is helpful and along the lines of what I was thinking. Seems like there is a better chance of finding a property that can cashflow. If you don't mind me asking what are you averaging on these properties in cashflow?
I believe there are lot of very bad areas in alamance county. So be very careful before buying anything there. You need good knowledge of what street you are buying.
I have to say Annchen is right on. It's a pretty good cash flow market. But it's really got competitive for anything under 100k. I've lost multiple deals due to competitive cash offers, which beats my 20% down every time, even when I'm dropping large DD#s. Luckily, I've been able to get a few deals via word of mouth and expanding my network there. Feel free to reach out for anymore info. Good Luck!
@Annchen Knodt Thanks so much for this information it is helpful and along the lines of what I was thinking. Seems like there is a better chance of finding a property that can cashflow. If you don't mind me asking what are you averaging on these properties in cashflow?
I'm getting around $200-$300 / mo for ~12% CoC returns in the first year. My PM tells me that rent growth is pretty good, so that should hopefully go up over time. Also, he was able to find tenants very quickly, and sometimes doesn't even have to list properties since he has often has a wait list of folks who have asked about availability.
I'm actively looking to invest in buy and hold single family homes in Alamance county. I moved to Mebane 3 years ago and I've only seen prices and demand for homes go up. I imagine it's due to the same reason I moved here, proximity to RTP. We wanted to be closer to RTP, but we were able to get twice the house in Mebane compared to Morrisville. I do have concerns about the demand for homes in some of the more rural parts of the county, but I think anything close to 40 will attract renters.