Realtor · Falls Church, VA · Member since 2019 · 5 posts · 6 votes
I am a real estate agent/investor currently living in Northern Virginia. I am also a Virginia Tech graduate (Go Hokies!). I have been considering in investing down in the Blacksburg, VA area. I would be looking more for a buy and hold strategy.
A couple of reasons listed below:
- Lower barrier to entry relative to Northern Virginia
- Possibly better cash flow (?); (Need to look into this more)
- In looking at the Virginia Tech master plan, the university is planning to grow
- Being able to stay involved in the community
Any thoughts or recommendations? Any investors in the same situation?
Lower barrier to entry, yes, but rents are also going to be a bit lower than what you might expect, as well. I tend to think that's because there's so much competition among rentals that there's constant downward pressure keeping rents from tracking upwards, but if you're looking at it from a long-term (10 year) perspective people have typically done well.
I happen to think the real opportunity isn't in the student rental sector, but in the graduate/professional sector. Our median and average sales prices preclude many from buying, particularly when they're here for 2-4 years, so rentals to graduate/professional (think SFH) are always in great demand.
Happy to chat with you about it more, if you'd like, and what we see on the sale side. For what it's worth, I'm following my own advice - SFH to the graduate/professional. Message me and we can chat, if you're interested.