All Forum Posts by: Nadine O.

US news fasted growing places: Myrtle Beach SC, Lakeland FL, Sarasota FL, Fort Meyers FL, Boise ID. I’m surprised by this list. My guess would be that these are places where people are moving to retire and that a lot of these people are not renters. I don’t know of a list for the fastest growing place for rental properties.

I like Pittsburgh. Much of the growth is from younger people moving here for tech jobs. These are renters.

When I was still hunting I basically ended up with NV below 4000ft elevation as my perfect OOS investment area. 

No state income tax, grass to tend, no ice/snow, humidity/excessive rain, storms with names, floods, earthquakes but with reasonable to great property tax rates and less LL-tenant regulation. 

Finding growth and value is hard everywhere, but 2 decades in the LL trenches taught me to avoid and seek the above. 

As @Morgan Eriksson mentions,  check inventory for the type of plexes you seek.

@Joshua Janus

He is absolutely correct. Columbus has a great rental back bone and is not going anywhere. It is great with both cash-flow and appreciation. 

We did exactly that in 2015 and 2016. We sold our Ventura, CA properties and bought a duplex to house hack in CO. We added a few more rentals here too. Before settling down we spent a few years traveling the country in an RV to pick a place that would work for us. We narrowed it down to Indiana where my family is from, Louisville KY, Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville TN, outside of Austin TX, sort of thought about Florida, and Colorado Springs. Quality of life is very important to our family. Being from the Midwest (Indianapolis area) I know it it just doesn’t have what’s important to me: beautiful scenery (subjective I know) and endless outdoor activities. (Also our family dislikes humidity, bugs, and constant grey winters.) Also in Ventura people loved living there. It was a daily part of life to talk about how great Ventura is and we hoped for a similar attitude about the new location.  It’s just different in the Midwest you don’t have that type of conversation often. I find it (a general attitude in the population of loving where you live) really makes a difference in quality of life. In general it seems to me that people love living in CO. Although I hear lots of complaining about how the cost of living has gone up. It’s true the prices have skyrocketed since we moved here. Personally, I just think there is so much more to consider that COL. If I were going to move to a lower cost of living state I’d probably consider the Black Hills area of SD or Chattanooga again…both places are beautiful with lots of outdoor things to do. The northwest west corner of Arkansas is another place I might consider as well. I personally think the reasons some places are lower cost of living are the same reasons I don’t want to live there. Being from the Bay Area I’d really think it through. You live in a gorgeous part of the country with endless activities, outdoor and cultural! 

@Nadine O.

I was in your EXACT shoes several years ago...Bay Area, wanted to move to a good city for real estate.

So I started comparing cities across the US. I built out a whole spreadsheet and everything. One thing to keep in mind...is do you actually WANT to live there? Sure you could go to Detroit (I considered it too) but would you be happy living there? Keep that in mind as you're choosing your cities.

I chose Tampa, Florida, and I love it here.

Recently, I've taken that spreadsheet and made a website out of it to help investors make this same decision based on what matters to them. I'd love to show it to you and dive into some of the areas you're considering! Hopefully that can help in your decision.

Shoot me a DM!

Vegas.. not so far  no income tax  lowest property tax in the US basically which is huge for buy and hold.. Newer stock not 50 to 100 year old beaters.. then wonder up to N. CA for July August. 

Also you know not every where in CA is out of reach.  parts of Oregon and Washington and even Idaho will work to.   I would also look seriously at Wenatchee  WA.  You talk about quality of life etc. 

small town vibe but has airport to get to Seatac  you have the cascades on one side  Columbia river running through it  Lake Chelan just North  its a wonderland.   And also NO state income tax.

If you want appreciation the south will be solid for many decades, I live in the upstate of SC and it's booming ( just like a lot of places) but one thing the south doesn't have compared to other markets is small Multi-Family. I have a lot of clients that intend to move here and buy a multi-family to house hack but they never believe me when there is no inventory of them, and it simply because the south didn't need multi-family housing till recently...  so if you want to hack a small multi-family specifically, I would focus on the midwest but you're going to lose the amazing weather, and you might not have the most appreciation. Two markets that have peaked my interested recently are pittsburgh and louisville. 

Live where you want, and invest where it works (said someone much smarter than I.) I live in the Bay Area as well (Marin County) and invest locally and out of state. Both strategies offer their advantages and challenges. The cash flow that comes in from my OOS investments may outperform my in-state investments on paper, but that doesn't necessarily translate to actual or overall ROI.

To all of those saying you cannot make money in expensive markets (SF, LA, NYC, etc) I don't understand that mindset. It may just be an excuse. There is a reason the most successful RE investors are from those cities.

I highly suggest you write out a list of the positives and challenges of both instate investing, and OOS investing, and make the determination of where you would like to purchase your asset. Live where you want though! If I can help you create this list please let me know. Best of luck!

Columbus Ohio is a good market to look into. It's more affordable than the Bay Area, and tech companies like Intel are moving here to lower their operating costs. Job growth should cause long-term appreciation as you build your portfolio.