Hi everyone, a close friend and I are partnering to get into real estate investing and trying to confirm our market (out of state) and strategy to begin with (ideally buy and hold). I work in property management software so I often talk to property managers and investors across the country about their strategies and experience with investing in their areas… and I’ve many of times heard great things about the up and coming cities and towns of North Carolina and the state’s landlord friendly laws. We initially were looking into Raleigh (because I have a personal connection there) and the triangle, though as we further explored, we learned the numbers don’t look great for purchasing and renting out long term … and so we’ve decided to look at markets outside, but not far from Raleigh, where we can get close to that renowned 1% rule. We’re starting to narrow in on a few: Greenville, Greensboro, and Wilmington, though it seems it may depend on the strategy for which market would be best to start in.

Ideally, we’d like to start with single-family long term rentals to start growing our portfolio, but then we’d like to get more creative with mid-term or short-term rentals that could create better cash flow. Greenville seems to have the lowest price point and so easiest for long term rentals, though Greensboro seems to be a close second. With Wilmington, it feels like we’d need to get further from the water (and closer to the college?) to make long term rents work with purchase prices. We are  interested in college student rentals as well and so it makes why we’ve looked at these markets.

We’d love to hear any insight and would love to talk to anyone who invests or works with investors in any of these areas. Ultimately, which market (including surrounding towns/cities) do you think would be the best to start our real estate investing portfolio in: Greenville, Greensboro, or Wilmington? (Or Raleigh if we could get creative but that seems like a stretch).