New to REI in NOLA

[John Maxi]

Hi everyone! I'm excited to join bigger pockets community! I'm John from New Orleans, LA and I am just starting my adventure into REI. I'm currently a graduate student and will be finishing up my PhD this year.

My background in real estate is essentially non existent. I've read a few books and can see that real estate investing is great way to generate passive income. I've started listening to BiggerPockets podcast and have come to the conclusion that the best way to get started is to jump into it.

I'm primarily interested buy and hold renting: condos, single family homes, duplexes, triplexes, or quads. My first goal is to learn how to analyze properties, and use that analysis strategy to analyze 100 properties in my market. Does anyone have suggestions for what metrics to pay attention to when evaluating properties for cash flow?

Glad to be here!

[Mike Wood]

@John Maxi In NOLA, craigslist if highly used by local landlords for SFR and 2-4unit apartments. I find it to be a very accurate tool, as most landlord will put up some pictures. There is enough rentals in the city, that its pretty easy to find a similar house near the property being evaluated.

As for areas, I dont necessary agree with you.  There are very pricey areas like Lakeview, Uptown, Garden District, North Midcity, but there are lots of working class areas where it is safe, prices are reasonable, and rents are strong.  I have units in Gentilly and the Upper Bywater.  I am currently looking in middle part of Midcity, Upper Bywater, New Marginy and Treme areas.  All of these area generally rent for more than $1/ft2 per month, and prices are reasonable (around $100/SF for duplex houses).  I am sure there are other areas, I am just not focusing on them right now.  

I dont own SFR, so I cant help much with them. I have briefly looked at them in the Gentilly area, but decided that the cash flow is not enough for me to justify tying up my capital in one. But it did appear that they would cashflow (i.e. a 3/1 SFR could be purchased for at or under $100k, and rent for $900-$1100 per month).

I personally build brand new duplex units, but do have a realtor that I work with that emails existing duplexes that I do consider, but its not my first choice. I may eventually buy some existing duplex house to grow faster.

If you are serious about buying and becoming a landlord, I definitely recommend finding an investor friendly realtor to work with.  They can provide a wealth of knowledge and help you to avoid bad deals.