Lynchburg VA, best buy and hold areas?
Hello all! While in my search for my first rental property in Lynchburg VA, I'm struggling to stick to a specific area. I am wondering if anyone currently in the market would have some insight on the most common zip codes or specific areas where others invest, and why they choose those areas? Pros and cons of them as well would be great. I've stated in my initial posts that I am focusing on multi families, however the areas I'm finding duplexes seem to be places that I do not feel the most comfortable when I drive through them.. With that said I am opening up more to the idea of single family homes In cleaner neighborhoods, but still being new to the area, unsure where exactly those places are.
For those of you not in my market, what do you look for when determining where you what to buy, and how do you find the information you need? Do you just find statistics of a given area online, or talking with everyone you interact with, or other ways? Also what do you actually want to know about a given area?
As always, I appreciate any responses to my beginner questions!
Thanks everyone!
- Austin
I have 2 condos in Capstone area. But you and I may have differing goals and resources as far as investing goes...I wanted turnkey and it was ok if it hardly cashflowed...we are investing for tax purposes and make money on that end...but think about who you want to be your tenant...do you want students? Do you want to buy a 3br townhouse and rent out each br for 400 or do you want a family ? Then think about where that person want to live. My daughters loved Capstone so that is where we bought. The fact that there is free bus service to Liberty is a huge plus. There are some "sketchy"areas for sure in Lynchburg. I always buy where I would like to live myself or would feel comfortable having my daughter live. There might be some nice little place in the historic downtown...that seems like it might be an up and coming neighborhood. I like condos because there is very low maintenance. They do have HOAs but that is fine....I dont have to worry about replacing the roof someday. But that is just me, we are all different. The latest bigger pockets episode was one of my favorites ..he talked about how everyone is always thinking they need to find a great deal, but how that is actually pretty hard. If you are in it for the long haul you will be ok...now if you are looking for fix and flips it is another story of courese, then you might need that good deal.
Thanks @Laura Tokgozoglu , that is all very helpful and I’m going to really narrow down my criteria even more now. I am looking for cash flow, but of course, I am in it for the long haul. I actually listened to that podcast today! It was fantastic, seems I need to go back and listen again though to get a little more out of it. I’m really just trying to give myself enough wiggle room in the event that I do miss some things, I will still be ahead, or at the very least at a break even point for the first few years.
Do you know of any local meet ups that take place between Lynchburg and roanoke?
Austin,
Are you planning on using a property manager? If so, they should be able to help you with which locations are good for rentals and which to avoid. I have been investing in Roanoke for about 2 years now so I’m not much help in Lynchburg, but feel free to reach out with any questions.
Austin, I dont know of any meetups as I am an out of State Investor...I agree with Jake Jernigan that a good property manager can be a good source of information. One reason we invested in Capstone area was that the guys at Priority One told me that there is always a waitlist for tenants...very popular place to rent.
Thanks @Jake Jernigan I will definitely try that out. I do plan on using a property manager so that is a great idea. Roanoke is the next area as well we want to look in. Actually my fiancé is more comfortable with roanoke so I will certainly reach out more on that when we have more questions there in the future. And thank you again @Laura Tokgozoglu!
Austin,
We have an REIA meeting in Lynchburg the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Our current location is at the Stoney Badger.
That is great to hear, thank you Robert! Hope to see you there.