Hi BP! I'm a new real estate investor and was wondering if champaign-urbana illinois is a good place to invest in for buy and hold? Main reason for selecting this location is job growth but I've been seeing contradictory information on the area and am not sure which is right. All other parameters looked good overall aside from job growth. Was wondering if it's landlord friendly also?
Does anyone have insights on this location? Would highly appreciate it!
Rental Property Investor · Champaign, IL · Member since 2015 · 146 posts · 80 votes
5y
I like (and invest in) Champaign, but only if you're local and can find a great deal or use some other profit-multiplier method (like BRRRR or house hacking). The state is challenged in multiple ways and Champaign is one of the few communities either growing or stable. Job stability is ok, but not great. Of course we don't yet know what the long-term structural changes in the market will come from covid. Basically if you live here and can BRRRR, live-in flip, and/or house hack I would do it, but I wouldn't invest in this market from outside the market.
And avoid Urbana - taxes are too high and it's not as landlord friendly.
As someone located in the market, I would avoid Urbana. Generally speaking, Illinois is a tenant-friendly state, but Champaign is a strong market. The campus part of town is out of supply/demand equilibrium as it has become over-built. If you're out of state, then I would highly recommend Fairlawn Real Estate as a third party manager; they're the best in the market.