Investor from Richmond, VA
SO glad to have found Bigger Pockets. I've been an investor since 2003, when I married my husband, who house-hacked his first house in Arlington, VA. I was a CPA in Northern VA at the time. Since then, I quit my job to raise a family, we have moved to Richmond, VA, raised 4 kids, and I am looking for a "new career".
And here I am on Bigger Pockets. I'm thinking real estate is our future. We still own the home in Arlington, and that is pretty well self-managed. We are looking to expand our rental real estate portfolio here in Richmond. I love to do the minor interior handiwork, and my husband likes to do the big projects.
We have a contract on a SFH in Richmond, VA as our second rental unit. We are planning to install a utility room, to house the washer (currently where the dish washer should go) and dryer (currently in the third bedroom). We are interested in meeting contractors in the Richmond area, other real estate investors, and investor-brokers.
And if anyone has any experience in renovating in the city of Richmond, I'm looking for information on permit requirements, rental codes, etc.
Glad to be here, guys!
Welcome to Bigger Pockets @Krista Dodson!! This site is a great resource for gaining new information on the Richmond market and investing in general. I suggest setting up a keyword alert for Richmond, VA so that you're always up to date on anything BP users are talking about regarding the area :)
Thanks, @Gabrielle E . I've got that taken care of, and have been busy stalking the forums for the past few weeks. This is my first attempt at becoming active in the community.
Welcome to Bigger Pockets. We bought our first duplex in Richmond last year. We've started to think of it as our local market, because it's an area we're very likely to relocate within the decade. NYC is so hostile to investment that it never made much sense to apply our funds in the city.
On that note, curious about people like yourself who move from the DC burbs to Richmond area. Is this a common trend? Picking up?
Our general suspicion is that it's a standard relocation choice, but curious if we're off on the cultural waves.
Shoot me a PM if you want any recommendations for service providers or other local knowledge we have picked up.
Well, my husband works for Capital One, which has a Very large campus down here in Richmond (appx 10K employees), and a smaller one up in Tysons Corner (DC area), so there are lots of people who relocate down and back up related to Capital One.
On the other hand, Richmond, while still being very culturally rich, is much more family friendly, and pocketbook friendly. It's an area where lots of people move BACK to. So they'll grow up here, go to larger metropolitan areas like DC or Charlotte to work for a while, then come back here to raise their families.
Lots of state and federal government employment opportunities, and with two large universities in the relatively small city, I'm finding it a great rental market.
The large metros are pretty hostile places to raise families these days. NYC, DC, SF, and LA have reached cost-of-living numbers that are more laughable every week.
When my wife and I talk about our eventual migration, a lot of our interest is to be plugged into a local urban environment, but also be close enough to the metro hubs for visits, culture, and my business. Naturally, mid-sized more affordable, still charming cities like Richmond show up on our list for that reason.
Our extended family also seems to be migrating southward, so there is the gravity that comes with that.