Investing in Memphis

[Account Closed]

Hello BP!

I am new to the site and I'm so glad that I happened to stumbled upon it. My wife and I are looking into buying our first investment property in the Memphis, TN market. After doing a lot of research, Memphis seems like one of the safest cities to invest in real estate. Just looking for some input on what you guys think about Memphis. Thanks!!!

[Chris Clothier]

Jonathan La Rosa - I do not personally like the downtown area at all. I love going down there and the revitalization is awesome, but the sfh stock is spotty and in the better area, the rents have not caught up with values. The one exception might be buying on the island, but even then, the prices are very high and the competition for renters will be fierce so rents get dropped pretty quickly over there to get units filled. If you are considering buying a condo downtown i again would say no way. There just is not enough demand in my opinion to justify that risk. I LOVE going downtown and the night life, restaurants and revitalization are great, but the housing investment opportunity has not caught up with the risk yet. Again, just my opinion.

I think the southeast is a very popular area for investors. But simply saying 38141 zip code is good can easily get you in trouble. You mentioned Hickory Ridge - South Riverdale. I would agree that these are good areas. Hickory Ridge definitely has more challenged neighborhoods and the further west you go can get you in trouble. South Riverdale is excellent. Costs a little more but he houses are better and it is further east. I really like Fox Meadows which is also in the Southeast area of the city and the Southwind area of that part of the city.

I am also a big fan of Cordova, Bartlett and the eastern half of Raliegh. There are lot of good properties in those areas as well.

For me personally and or our company - just a general rule of thumb on Memphis - we do not like to invest in zip codes that stat with 3810x . We do like 38141, 38115, 38125, 38133, 38134, 38135, 38128.

That is by no means an exhaustive list, but if you are trying to invest yourself here in Memphis from out of town, I would look to those 7 zip codes first and then expand from there if you do not like what you see.

Best of luck -