I am considering an investment property mostly for appreciation purposes. I have heard great things about all the three cities: Atlanta, Austin and Raleigh but looking to understand which is best suited for good long term appreciation. I am ok with being minor cash flow negative too as long as it prices go up longer term. I am mostly looking for tech related growth opportunities.
Austin - A tech hub already, good universities, and trendy town. However, I feel like prices have shot up a lot lately. Not sure how much upside is remaining.
Raleigh - I see many tech jobs moving to Raleigh area and has good universities too.
Atlanta - I see some tech jobs moving to Atlanta too, but concerned about crime rate, etc.
Which city do you think is best posted for long term appreciation?
@Anks Desai I am a investor/realtor in Atlanta. The Atlanta BeltLine is Atlanta’s newest outdoor space and is comprised of 22 miles of unused railroad tracks circling the core of the city’s in-town neighborhoods. From trails and walkways to open green space and parks, the Atlanta BeltLine works to connect people throughout the city. The very hot neighborhoods around the beltline offer an opportunity to get in for under market value (light renovation) or at or slightly above market value (turn key) and have great appreciation in the next 2-5 years. Some areas that you should research are:
@Anks Desai I am a investor/realtor in Atlanta. The Atlanta BeltLine is Atlanta’s newest outdoor space and is comprised of 22 miles of unused railroad tracks circling the core of the city’s in-town neighborhoods. From trails and walkways to open green space and parks, the Atlanta BeltLine works to connect people throughout the city. The very hot neighborhoods around the beltline offer an opportunity to get in for under market value (light renovation) or at or slightly above market value (turn key) and have great appreciation in the next 2-5 years. Some areas that you should research are:
@Anks Desai! Like @Quentin Davie said, the Beltline is a huge draw for Atlanta. As for your concerns about crime, I’m not aware of any densely populated cities that don’t have it. In considering all locations, you may want to check Trulia’s crime heat map. It compares locations relative to the average for the area. You may also check a site called Crime Reports. It breaks down the types of crime. One drawback is that every police agency does not report their stats here so you may need to dig a bit deeper, if you need more info. Good luck!
Hi @Anks Desai ! I work on a brokerage team in industrial real estate and we have done some recent deals in the Raleigh-Durham market. Downtown Raleigh lies southeast of the Research Triangle Park ("RTP") which is the largest research park in the U.S. situated in between three Tier-1 universities. Apple just announced a $1 billion plan to build a new campus in the park to create 3,000 new jobs. I think the combination of the student population living in the three surrounding college towns combined with the influx of employees looking for jobs at the research park, Raliegh is a great city for long-term investing.
I'm not from any of those areas, but I'm partial to Austin as a long-term appreciation play. (Likely because it reminds me of Denver where we work with buyers and investors. Like Austin, Denver's not a cash-flow market, but has so many factors pointing to sustained growth that I'm interested in having as many places as I can here.)
The presence of Apple and Tesla is huge. The economy beyond that is diversified. Low unemployment. Sunny skies. Great music and food. Big population growth. I have an investment-minded agent in Austin who's looked for homes in Denver with me, and we have a great time talking about the similarities between the two markets.
Also following this discussion since Atlanta is one of the cities that I'm looking at to start off in RE investing. The booming tech scene is appealing to me since I'm from the Bay Area in California.
Hey @Anks Desai, would be interested to find out which city you decided to go with??
@Ricky Tran, welcome to the BP community! The original discussion is several months old so likely not much going on here but there are a ton of discussions here on BP regarding Atlanta and other "top cities to invest in." You're right though - tech is most definitely booming here. It's not quite as apparent or talked about as Raleigh-Durham because the economy and job market here is booming in many directions other than just tech.
If you can find success here in Atlanta as a new investor, you'll build a very solid foundation for your future portfolio. Competition is fierce here because so many believe so strongly in this market. Happy to chat more about my experience so far and where I've found success vs. failure. Shoot me a message anytime!
Thank you all for the responses. I ended up with Raleigh for my investment property for now. I liked the tech job opportunities there along with good universities too. Hoping to get into Atlanta market sometime in the future.
Hey @Anks Desai, would be interested to find out which city you decided to go with??
@Ricky Tran, welcome to the BP community! The original discussion is several months old so likely not much going on here but there are a ton of discussions here on BP regarding Atlanta and other "top cities to invest in." You're right though - tech is most definitely booming here. It's not quite as apparent or talked about as Raleigh-Durham because the economy and job market here is booming in many directions other than just tech.
If you can find success here in Atlanta as a new investor, you'll build a very solid foundation for your future portfolio. Competition is fierce here because so many believe so strongly in this market. Happy to chat more about my experience so far and where I've found success vs. failure. Shoot me a message anytime!