@Brandon Durant Pawtucket and good areas of Providence are doing well, as they did in the last cycle too. Folks from Boston come down and can’t believe how “cheap” properties are, though they often don’t realize that’s also because rents are lower too. They’re just happy to be able to buy something.
If the numbers make more sense in a different part of the country and you’re comfortable buying there (e.g., have family or a team on the ground), you should absolutely go where the 💰 is. I have several friends in RI who decided to invest in different parts of the country than the northeast for municipal tax and legal (tenant friendly laws) reasons.
At this point I am almost considering on just buying a house and investing in a duplex out of state somewhere in the mid country like Kansas City a few years from now haha
@Brandon Durant Pawtucket and good areas of Providence are doing well, as they did in the last cycle too. Folks from Boston come down and can’t believe how “cheap” properties are, though they often don’t realize that’s also because rents are lower too. They’re just happy to be able to buy something.
If the numbers make more sense in a different part of the country and you’re comfortable buying there (e.g., have family or a team on the ground), you should absolutely go where the 💰 is. I have several friends in RI who decided to invest in different parts of the country than the northeast for municipal tax and legal (tenant friendly laws) reasons.
I think finding cash flowing duplexes with rates where they are is difficult in most of the north east - owners not having taken the hit yet on prices. On top of that, taxes in RI seem to be very high % of the income. I went down and looked at a bunch of properties in Providence and could not get the numbers to work at $80K per unit. The renovations needed to get to a comfortable level for me ($50K per unit) pushed it into pretty poor yield territory.
Hypothetical I think New Bedford, lower taxes, similar rents to providence, may appear to cash flow better. Although I know a property manager who decided to leave that market as managing the properties and residents was not ideal (way to much work for the return).
In some sense - figure out what price works for a 2 or 3 family in the market you want, and just be ready to jump when something does appear. Or proactively ask local brokers if they have off market 2 families for X dollars.
@Brandon Durant without knowing your market it is hard to say, but I would do a deep dive into the numbers and see if you can make it work. What are properties actually selling for vs what they are listed for, are there concessions? Are your expectations correct? Are you trying to cashflow with low down and buyers in your area are putting 20-30% down? Can you put 30% down and be in a area you know will do well and the numbers work.
I see folks get caught up on cashflow and miss the point of investing. Most investors a couple hundred a month isn't going to change their life at all for the first year or two. However if you get started now and 5 to 10 years down the road the cashflow is up and the value is up all the sudden it is making a big impact on quality of life. Invest for you not for what others are saying invest for.