New to the game...

[Jonny Morris]

Dear all, 

I am curious. 

Moving from London to Bozeman, Montana I anticipate having the capital from the sale of my London, UK property in the next few months. I am excited to see how far that will go in terms of investments out here. 

My question is: what should my next steps be as a new investor to the area and the game? The nature of this seems to be finding deals before other local investors? I am unsure as to why other locals would assist with a deal? Would love to connect with some experienced people who have time/interest to share a few tips?

I have minimal experience with rentals - my property in London was not my residence and was a great investment/rental. 

[George N.]

@Jonny Morris I think buy and hold, long term, works well in Bozeman. It's a great long term market with great long term growth prospects. The problem is prices have soared the last few years so if you're looking to buy to produce income month to month, that's a tough find. I was fortunate enough to buy a couple quads during the recession and made out well. It's a bit of a boom and bust market like most high growth areas so one strategy might be to wait for a downturn should one happen. I watch the MLS closely and have seen only a couple of potential deals that meet my standards in the last couple years and even those would be 10+ year outlook. So off-market is the only way to go for cash flow right now if it's out there.

1% on a mobile home... I wouldn't touch that. MHs are expensive in Bozemana and command high rents, that's true. I own a park nearby in Livingston so I'm pretty familiar with the class. Bottom line is long term on a mobile home you won't have the same opportunity for appreciation and repairs/turnover are also more common/costly. I'd be angling for 3%+ on a MH though I'd I'd be hesitant personally. I brought 2 into my park and my goal is just to get my money back and focus on the lot rent. I'd rather the tenants own them.  Some people do OK on them though. Usually they buy them cheap/next to nothing, do a minimal rehab, and rent them out. A guy in my park owns 6 homes and he owns them all over Bozeman as well so it's working for him. I brought a fixer upper home in for 5K, put another 3-4k into it to get it set up and do a partial rehab and had a ton of people wanting it at $625 a month still needing an interior rehab. Technically that's like 6% rule so the returns can be OK (though you would have lot rent to pay) but I'm renting to own regardless...I'd rather have the tenants own it and take care of it than me. My bet is that after 5 years of ownership that number will in the real world be much, much lower and the home will be worth the same or less. 

The real upside in Bozeman, as Patrick pointed out, is long term appreciation.