Location Research for Real Estate Investment (Rental Properties)

[Connor Heffler]

Just starting out as an investor and have narrowed my criteria down. Now I am researching which locations are the best to buy properties. I am analyzing states and cities based on crime rate, unemployment rate, population growth rate, home price to rental ratio, property taxes, and landlord friendliness. Are some of these demographics more important than the others? How do these demographics rank in terms of importance?

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Connor Heffler:

Just starting out as an investor and have narrowed my criteria down. Now I am researching which locations are the best to buy properties. I am analyzing states and cities based on crime rate, unemployment rate, population growth rate, home price to rental ratio, property taxes, and landlord friendliness. Are some of these demographics more important than the others? How do these demographics rank in terms of importance?

Welcome to the BiggerPockets forums!

Personally, I want to start with a Landlord-friendly state. Then I would look for a market with a good property manager. It won't do any good to find a cash-flowing investments but then they perform poorly because of bad management. Then I would start to look at the strength of schools and crime rates.