Out of State Investor Looking at Delaware
Hello!
I am looking to invest in Delaware as an out of state investor looking for SFR to buy and hold. I'm choosing Delaware because I currently live overseas and will have family who are looking to retire in the state of Delaware. They will act as my "boots on the ground" to help keep an eye on area trends and what not. I've been trying to determine the good markets in Delaware but am finding that assessing the areas to be quite challenging mostly due to the small population size and the ease which people can commute to and from other states for things like work and fun.
Some brief criteria I'm looking for are
1. 3+ bed 2+ bath, 1/2+ acre lot
2. B to B+ area
3. Decent schools
4. Not in a college area as I don't want to deal with the college age population.
5. Consistent population growth
6. Consistent median income growth
What areas are good places to start diving deep into? I dove into the Millsboro area and based on what I'm seeing, the rental market seems pretty weak. I compared some recently sold homes (past 90 days) to roughly match the few houses I could find for rent. I cannot seem to make those sold homes cash flow unless I use some aggressively low estimates (4-5%) on things like maintenance and cap ex and knock $20k or so off the purchase price. That being said, that is using Zillow. Once I get my familiar with a 2-3 areas I plan on reaching out to a real estate agent that came recommended to help find some better deals.
Any advice you can offer will be greatly appreciated.