Hi all,
Where you guys think is the best city to invest in this year? Some say San Antonio or Austin, texas. What are your thoughts???
It’s the one you live in!
Mike
New Orleans is where the money is at.
Texas is hot in general. It’s still affordable here, but cash flow is going to be tough without your 20% down. East, South, and North are still affordable, so are good investment areas. Depends on your goals.
You should clarify what your goals are and then pick a city that is going to appreciate, but can give you the numbers and rental rates that you want. I like Houston, Greater Austin, San Marcos, and Greater San Antonio. Be aware that San Antonio is seeing so much activity from investors that their inventory has increased. Rents have dropped, but you can still break even. Time on market is longer now.
Heck…you can be successful anywhere. I live 27 miles from the nearest stop lite in an area where in a good year there is 5% appriciation and I make a dandy living. But, just like with RE agents, 20% of the investors do 80% of the business because, for the most part they, they work harder and hone their skills.
But you must realize TN that if you were to get your water from a spring ,your electric from the gods and your food from the garden this is quite an advantage to making a living at this. ;DNot that that is how anyone here lives but just figurativly speaking ;D
It’s best to start out investing within 30 Minutes of your own home. Pheonix AZ is a hot spot right now & so is Las Vegas NV
Heck where I live(coastal NC),you’re lucky to find a $200,000 house within 30 miles that will rent for $1200 a month.You have to go inland about 60 miles and you may break even with a mobile home. 
Kevin
If you look smart enough the deals are there. However every state is different. Just remember Real Estate is everywhere you go ;D
If you have some time to do some research, NW arkansas is booming right now.
Property is appreciating at around 23% per year, with 1100 new families moving to the area per month, supply and demand is out of whack.
flipping is huge here, but you gotta be quick.
I have a team in SLC working for me. I lease-option homes with 100% financing that are breakeven on cashflow and the area is appreciating 15-20% a year.
extremely low taxes. let me know if you more info.
however, if you want to invest in new orleans which has really tight
supply of rentals, check out http://www.preconlots.com
i’m not a fan of texas coz of the 3% property tax and 1% insurance. also there are areas like houson which get overbuilt every cycle. it also appreciated 89% in the past 25yrs which is pretty sad.
not enough cashflow & not much appreciation for my taste.
stay away from the overinflated costal areas.
also check out the midwest. cheap properties that cashflow but don’t expect any appreciation.
here’s a good post on a similar topic.
http://moneyshaker.blogspot.com/2005/10/understanding-real-estate-market.html
What is the rental market like in SLC? I am looking at picking up a couple properties this year to buy and hold. I am already in the works for getting a house in San Antonio, but SLC is one of the other cities I was going to look into.
look for a home depot or lowes being built in the area. Also find out where simon malls are being placed. these are typically good indicators that an area is up and coming. most of these companies have season pro’s in their real estate departments and they don’t pay top dollar for their space. they bank on the future value increases
Also - look for Starbucks going in. They do a lot of research in areas before moving in, so you know that once they start moving into an area, it’s growing.
Heck where I live(coastal NC),you're lucky to find a $200,000 house within 30 miles that will rent for $1200 a month.You have to go inland about 60 miles and you may break even with a mobile home.
I livein Queens NY and there isn’t any decent money making opps around here…If you have to put down %20 to make an %8 return in a depreciating market guess what, it’s time to sit in a all cash position…Trying to catch a falling knife is not worth it and cash is king right now…Save the ammo for when the real money makers show their head at realistic prices…Inventory is building rapidly and that can only mean one thing, bring out the price reduction forms…!!!..I’m praying for RE crash,this past 5 years has made people no different than tech stock holders of the late 90’s…I own RE but want to buy more but not at 10-15x rent rolls…They can keep it and by the looks of inventory many feel the same way…I’m already seeing 8x rent rolls but I want more…Blood in the streets is coming…
pretty good, but it depends on the area and how good your prop. mgr is.
i had several prop. mgrs tell me they could rent my home for $900 whereas
my lease option guy got the tenants to pay $1525/mo.
thats a large difference - over 50%
I’d have to say that where I’m from is pretty hot right now. Oxford, MS. These two articles have come out in the last few months.
This was on good morning america
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1493575&gma=true&gma=true
At the moment I can’t seem to find the link to the second article but I have it printed out. Its “top 7 great places to live” on bottomlinesecrets.com
Josh
the news people are usually late. they also sometimes draw the wrong conclusions from data.
for example WSJ had an article about how nearly 240,000 people left CA last year. they sited high taxes as the reason. the real reason was unaffordable housing. would you pay $400k for an 800 sq ft condo with 1 parking spot when you can move to a neighboring state, get a job that pays the same and get a new house for $200k thats 1800 sq ft???
not to say that oxford isn’t hot. i’m just ranting here.
They are a little late… but it is hot here and I don’t see it going away any time soon.