Thanks to anyone who replies. I’m a typical noob starting out in REI. I’ve done some reading and I’m currently following the local market for duplexes to owner-occupy. I’ve been watching for a few months now and even the duplexes that come on the market and appear to be a great deal…I run a cashflow calculation on and I’m able to break even if they accepted a selling price 10-15% off of their asking price. There are a few things that seem to be working against me in this area: high property taxes, low rents. I’m really starting to lose faith in doing the duplex thing, which I really hoped would have worked out. I’m interested in fixing & flipping but I just don’t have the time to make that work right now, that might be fun to do 15 years down the road. I really thought duplexes would be a nice stable investment.
Anyway, I’m rethinking my strategy. Do you think going after the cheaper duplexes is a better stategy? They seem to have a better possibility of positive cashflow, but I’m skeptical of these older properties. Who’s going to want these years from now? Who’s going to want to live in these? Not sure if they’re the best long term investment even though they probably would produce an immediate positive cashflow.
Am I giving up way too early? I’m not in any hurry. In the market that I described do you think a decent, positive cashflow duplex will eventually come along? Any advice on other types of REI I may not know about that you think I would enjoy? Thanks again.
One more question: I read somewhere that taking an ad out in the newspaper under ‘Real Estate Wanted’ is a good tactic. Can anyone vouch for that?