New Member Intro from Ohio!

[Bridget Poston]

Hi BP community!

My name is Bridget and my boyfriend and I just recently moved to good ol' Marietta, Ohio. We have been studying for awhile since we found BP but i realized i never made a formal introduction! Well here it is. We are currently saving up money for a down payment on a property. We are interested in investing in small multi families to start, and scaling up from there. We'd like to house-hack a small multi to get some landlording experience and get our feet wet. Right now, aside from educating ourselves through BP, books, etc. we are looking to do two things:

1. Connect with others locally - those investing in Ohio and West Virginia ideally, but I love talking to anyone and finding out how they do what they do and seeing if there's any value i could add. And also discover some REIAs/ RE meet ups near Marietta. So if anyone knows of any or is hosting a meet up somewhat near Marietta, OH, I would love to hear from you!

And 2. Market analysis. We are new to Ohio (although my bf has family here) so we are not too familiar with the areas. We are trying to figure out the best way to cheaply or freely analyze markets and find an area to invest. I do know of some resources that give you data on crime rates, pop. stats, and rents, etc in an area. I also know that talking with other investors about what they do will help too.

Any other suggestions or tips for doing market research?

Any and all feedback is appreciated, thank you in advance!

Bridget

[Derrick E.]

Hey @Bridget Poston welcome to BP. I am familiar with the Marietta/Parkersburg area. Not a bad area at all imo. As for the data on crime and such, I honestly wouldn't put to much emphasis on that. In our area its all pretty much the same, minus the really nice areas, which are obvious. Our whole region is a C/D area according to the snobs in California. Set your own criteria and rate your neighborhoods/streets based on comparing it to the rest of the local area. 

I think overall we have a great area to invest. We don't make much on appreciation compared to the coastal states, but we have cheap properties that cash flow really well. We also have strong rental markets for various reasons. 

Best of luck to you guys!