I've met with several realtors in both Dothan and Enterprise, 5 total. After about 2 hrs of table talk we came up with only 2 properties to look at for potential rentals...so expect to really put your networking skills to test and do a lot of driving for dollars to find the deals.
Dothan first impressions: very beautiful Garden District, homes with lots of well developed yards and character... the city has an annual parade through through this area showcasing how beautiful the city is.."dothan azalea trail". Also some small but bad ghetto. Downtown has some closed bars and surrounded by nearby low income.., some good martini bars (oak and olive) moving into downtown bringing the higher end clients, but still boarded up buildings here and there.... Potential to grow, but I've been coming through for 8 years and it hasn't really developed at all downtown.... I wonder if there are strict liquor license laws, I know in enterprise the city hasn't granted anymore so you have to buy someone else out... may be the reason for no real growth in bar scene. The industry seems to be surrounded by two medical centers and the restaurants on the "ross clark circle". neighborhoods from 50k to 300k, so lots of variety. I see vacant old historic homes inside garden district all the time. Outside the circle moving west you'll find very nice neighborhoods. Overall I like the area because the city is small enough to explore all in one day but not too small.
Enterprise Impressions: Most of the nicer neighborhoods cater to military families, some drawdowns and there will be %20 reduction in soldier trainees next year. I own a townhome built by a builder 7 years ago who never stopped building so there is a ton of vacant inventory. My property manager got into a legal dispute with the base and closed down, they sold the business to another property manager (prestige property management). They absorbed 300 properties on top of what they are currently managing. I called to get a idea of the market and was told there are 6 pages of vacant townhomes and 2 pages of vacant single family homes. So there could be some opportunity in "rescuing" and worried owner, but Some of the older townhome areas (especially the ones without HOA) are getting run down and low income is moving in.... owner are mostly young military singles who were convinced to buy instead of rent by first property management company (I was one), now no one wants to put any money into properties... ie paint, siding, etc. With that said there are still a lot of demand for rentals so if you fix up a place then you could make it profit, HOA only $45. I'm dumping couple thousand into mine to compete with the owners who refuse to paint or carpet after 7 years. Most of the vacancies have original yucky wall paper and old dirty carpet, I'll be glad to show you mine when done.
I drive a different area each weekend just looking around and I think Dothan would be more stable from an economic standpoint. Plus its 3 times the size...with that said there are areas of Enterprise that have waiting lists because of how nice they are, Fort Rucker will always be here.... Really depends on what you want to do. I you target rentals for less than $500 you are getting into the low income/trashy areas.
