All Forum Posts by: Ka V.

Hi Ka, I invest in the midwest and have 9 doors across Memphis and Detroit. I don't know the Wisconsin market, but if you are interested in other midwest markets, would be happy to connect and knowledge share.

Hey Ka, starting with a turnkey property is a great way for beginners to get their feet wet in real estate investing. I would recommend focusing on local markets initially before expanding to out-of-state opportunities but if investing locally isn't a possibility, consider checking out Columbus OH. North Hilltop, Old North, Southern Orchards, Franklinton, Reynoldsburg, Merion Village, Old Towne East, North Linden and Hungarian Village are some areas that are good to explore. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

It's great that you're getting started Ka! 

You said that you may consider investing OOS if the deals make sense. There are some great opportunities in the Ohio markets. Many investors from around the world are choosing to invest in the Midwest because of the lower barrier to entry and yearly cash returns making more sense in these lower priced markets. Ohio markets show up 3 times in Zillow’s 2024 hottest markets, with Columbus and Cincinnati taking the top 2 and 3 spots. I moved from Florida to start investing in Columbus because of the same reason.

https://www.zillow.com/learn/hottest-housing-markets-2024/

Hi Ka, welcome to BP and congrats on looking into your first investment!

I suggest joining Facebook investing groups in your market and looking into meetups in your area (meetup.com is a great place to start). Knowing your market/demand drivers it going to be key, especially if you are looking to MTR (traveling nurses, military, students, etc). 

Happy to connect and chat further!

Milwaukee is an interesting market (I've been investing here for 15 years) but with 1.6 million people in the metro area and neighborhoods famously changing block-by-block, location is critical. And it's not as cheap as many think, especially in quality areas. You can see that days on market are much longer in rough areas than in higher priced ones (like 90 days vs 5). 

We have a chronic housing shortage, which results in an extremely hot rental market, but it also makes buying very competitive. The age of our housing stock and the capex that comes with it should also not be ignored. We have seen steady appreciation around 7-8% over the last 10 years (you can look that up on YouTube) and are on track to another 8% year so far. Without an influx in new construction we are probably going to stay on this path, because outside of 600k new construction in the suburbs, we only have what we have in terms of houses.

Wisconsin is generally a landlord-friendly state, but Dane County (Madison) keeps getting more and more landlord-unfriendly, Milwaukee is definitively better in that regard.

@Ed Riggenbach is definitely a person I would talk to about property management, WHM also has a very informative website.

Welcome to BiggerPockets Ka! I love starting in the Midwest because it’s affordable and offers great cash flow. Following David Green’s Core 4 strategy (realtor, contractor, property manager, and lender) makes investing anywhere feel solid. I focus on Columbus, Ohio, which is booming with growth—tech giants like Intel, Meta, Amazon, and Google are driving up property prices and job opportunities. I also invest in Cleveland and Dayton. If you need any help, just let me know!

Congrats on making the leap!! If there's anything I can do to help, don't hesitate to reach out. I prefer Single Family and Multi Family investing in Milwaukee personally. 

Madison and Dane County continues to be a growing market, with price increases reflecting that. So far this year from MLS data, in Dane County, the median 3 bed, 2 bath home sold for $440k and $429,950, so with our high taxes (around 2% of the purchase price), you may decide to focus on multi-family property for help with income/cash flow. If you search for rentals in the area, I think it is logical with this pricing why you don't see a ton of single family homes for rent. Madison has pretty strict short term rental rules if you don't live at the property, so mid term furnished rentals is a strategy I have seen done here. In a rental I manage, we did see about a 40% higher rent for a furnished unit, but may see some higher vacancy periods and tenants probably expect more included (utilities, internet, etc), but agree it's something to consider.

If you're interested in the MTR strategy, I invite you to participate in THE MTR Connect. It's a weekly virtual meetup for MTR investors. We meet every Friday at 9am PST. This could be a helpful group for you to network with and to ask questions and seek advice. If you're interested, just send me a DM and I'll send you the sign up information.

WI is a big market.  Do you have a specific geographic area you are most familiar with and hope to be in?  It wasn't clear if you plan to self manage and need the property pretty close to home.  Good luck wherever you end up.  If it's the Madison area, I can provide a bit more detail.  Also, as far as multifamily, wasn't sure what you are thinking on max price range, but guessing you are thinking 1-4 units to start off with conventional financing.