Does anyone have experience investing in central Utah?

Question

Does anyone have experience investing in central/southern Utah?

For example: price, Utah; Castle Dale; Ferron; others?

What are the pros and cons you have found investing there?

Thanks in advance!

Blair Poelman · Answer

@Nick Elg  I spent nearly a year getting my team dialed in, but I've done several deals in SE UT and have done very well on most - broke even on 1, haven't lost... yet (knock on wood).

Carbon and Emery counties are made up of small towns and are good markets IF (and that's a big IF) you know how to navigate the small town "stuff".  I know plenty of guys who have had their a** handed to them out there.  It's kind of a strong stomach market - gotta deal with plenty of city crap to get things done.  It's for sure not low hanging fruit.

I'm wrapping my most recent project this weekend and will be have spent less than half the money, and will more than double the ROI% compared to my last deal in UT county on the flip.

Jaiden Olsen · Answer

I grew up in Central Utah (Manti, to be specific). I would love to invest in those small rural areas, if for nor other reason, than I love the area. Something that has always steered me away from those rural areas, is that the economies rely SO heavily on single companies, industries, etc...

A bad example that I could give you is Delta, Ut. Delta is a small rural Utah community (pop. 3500) that relies heavily on the power plant for employment. The power plant recently announced that it plans to convert from a coal fired plant to a fully solar plant by 2025. Some estimates guess that this change will cause 500 people to lose their jobs. This is a HUGE deal for delta, and will likely ruin real estate growth potential for a long period of time.

On the other hand, there is a lot of profit to be had by renting to the salt of the earth people who work those hard jobs. Many of those people are long-term renters, and will take great care of the place. CAP rates are higher, returns are typically higher, and risk is a little higher. All in all, I don't think it is a bad investment, but until I have more experience, I won't be investing in those small rural communities.

Dan Gustavson · Answer

I would also like to know, Northern Utah is too expensive right now.

Harvard Kinkead · Answer

Nice.

Nick Elg · Answer

@Harvard Kinkead

Haha no worries! I have been an agent for just over 1 year.

Harvard Kinkead · Answer

@Nick Elg Lol! Never mind, I see you are from Bountiful.  How long have you been an agent?

Harvard Kinkead · Answer

What area are you located in?  I am in Clearfield.

Harvard Kinkead · Answer

I have a software that pulls some data from the MLS that shows a map of areas and shows zip, city, mean income, mean value of properties, forcast appreciation, price to rent ratio, # of all cash sales, # of abandoned houses, and foreclosures in the area.  On the map, it high lights areas with the most activity, like All Cash Sales.

The bad part is it does not give details about those numbers, just the summaries.  Here is an image of what I see for the areas I mentioned:

Nick Elg · Answer

@Harvard Kinkead

Where are you looking to see activity on those areas? Mls?

Do you have any properties there? Would you mind sharing some numbers you have seen or can expect?

Nick Elg · Answer

@Harvard Kinkead

Thanks for the insight. I live closer to these northern cities. Not sure how I feel about them, they are close to Airforce base and they employ a lot of people..

I was looking at a 4-plex that sold for $350,000 and needed a full remodel..

I was asking about southern/central Utah because properties are selling much cheaper there (not a lot of properties are going up for sale but the ones that do have a good price to rent ratio). For example a 4-plex in great shape was selling for $160,000? Each unit got $400 and could have been raised to $500(at least the agent said so).

Does anyone have experience investing in central Utah?

Most Popular Reply