Rentals in Anderson, Indiana

[Jones Udo-Akang]

I'm looking to invest in rental properties in the Indianapolis area but my search has been tough especially with the low inventory in Indianapolis. Especially for properties in B/C neighborhoods that generate good cashflow. 

During the course of my search, Anderson pops up as an area where I found inexpensive SFH and MFH that generate really good cash flow compared to Indianapolis (almost 2x the cashflow of Indianapolis for a similar kind of house).

Following several forum threads, most of them about a year old or more, the recommendation has been stay away from Anderson. Can anyone shed some light on why there is this negative sentiments for this area but yet the rent a comparable to that of Indianapolis but the price of homes are low. 

I understand this could be bad business for flips but for long term rental this looks like good business. Please let me know what you guys think?

[Ross Denman]

I don't have any recent experience in Anderson since it's too far from our office to manage properties up there, but I live in Fishers which is about 20 minutes from there.

• Anderson's population had been on a decline after the manufacturing jobs left during the recession. It is still difficult to find gainful employment and too far to drive to Indianapolis or Muncie for work. I don't have current data on population, but I have seen nothing that has told me otherwise.
• Many of the wholesale deals in Anderson are expired listings that the realtors were unable to sell. The prices are reduced because homes simply aren't selling. Nobody is buying because everyone is leaving. If the population continues to decline, eventually, there won't be enough renters to fill your properties.

Here's some actual data to consider.

There are currently 6 rentals available on Zillow in Anderson.

26 of these are less than 14 day old listings (which is ok for this time of year) but they are still not leased yet.

19 have been on the market for 60 or more days (about 1/3) which is atrocious for this time of year.

Of 221 properties for sale (raw land included,) I counted 66 homes for sale that have been on the market for over 90 days (this doesn't include raw land.) Taking out the raw land, about 1/3 of these homes have been on the market for a long time.

City-data shows a declining population from 2000-2014 dropped by 7% (that's a big drop for 14 years.) http://www.city-data.com/city/Anderson-Indiana.html

I don't have any current data in Anderson, but I haven't seen anything to make me believe that it's turning around yet. Anderson is not a bad area and used to be a somewhat thriving city, but until the employment base returns, it seems that many people are moving away for work.

I'm not expert, but there's the data I could dig up pretty quickly.