Good day everyone!

We're thinking about buying a turnkey rental property in Hagerstown (in the city). I heard mixed messages about this being a good or bad idea. For example, I was told that city inspections are really tough. But if I buy a newer property in a good shape and keep it that way (with help of a good tenant), should I worry about this? Also, if I decide to rent to a Section 8 tenant, are those inspections easier/harder to pass? Aside from having to pay higher taxes compared to the county and getting a property in a bad neighborhood, what are other cons of having a rental in the city? What about pros? Thank you!

Ilya,

I have a few rentals in the city of Hagerstown and have built and renovated in the city. The only time you should worry about inspections is if you're doing a major renovation besides that if you can get by without pulling a permit and inspecting, go that route. The section 8 inspections are not that strenuous, they typically will ding you for stuff like dirty air vents or screen Windows to have holes in them or a dirty oven. These are the type of small items you should expect but can pass on the second inspection. Give me a msg me/call sometime and we partner with investors looking to invest in the Hagerstown market.

Pros: 

large tenant pool, lots of deals to purchase, section 8 department easy to deal with,

Cons: City inspections if encountered, quality of renter's, properties over a hundred years old,

When you say turnkey I’m assuming you want a property manager to do everything and you just sit back and collect checks. If so there are better markets for that maybe a Cleveland or Indianapolis.

Or does turnkey to you just mean freshly renovated?

I mean no major work needed, with existing (good) tenants. So I buy and start collecting rent right away. Might hire a PM or not, that depends on a situation.

I have briefly considered going out of state like Indianapolis. Might do it eventually but it will require a lot more research before I feel comfortable investing there. If Indianapolis (or Cleveland or any other place for that matter) is anything like Hagerstown or Baltimore than you can have a great neighborhood in one place and really bad one literally next block over. So I would need to "dissect" the place first.

I would consider hagerstown if the properties were 2% rule or higher.  is that the case?

@Michael P. , I’m guessing if it’s being sold at a turnkey price it’s not going to be 2%.  Hopefully 1%...