Winchester Virginia area -suitable for NoVa investors?

[Lou LaMedica]

My wife and I are looking to invest in our very first rental property this year. We have been studying up as much as possible and I believe that we have a plan. Our primary residence is in the DC metro area so we are looking to invest 1-2 hours away. I am not comfortable investing out of state until we have more experience. Right now, we are considering Winchester, Richmond and even possibly Charleston WV. Any members have experience investing in multi-family rentals in any those markets? Any advice for getting a feel for a market that you do not live in, but can drive to?

[Lou LaMedica]

@Nik Moushon Wow -really informative post! That is a great point about the train to DC in Martinsburg. I've been to the VA Hospital out there and liked the area. I've found a few multifamily in the 100-110k range that seemed to be priced reasonably on MLS. My next step is to find out about vacancy rates and crime out there - I don't really have a feel for that market yet.

Sorry to hear about the loss when you left Winchester. From what I have heard, the development out there has slowed down again recently. We live in Loudoun and there are townhomes going up everywhere but they are all priced at top dollar. 

When you say market types and market areas are you referring to secondary and tertiary markets? Due to inexperience with real estate, we are looking for a market that we can drive to within an hour of our house. I like the economies of scale inherent in multi-family so that is why we are looking at that. I do not think we would be able to purchase a sfr along 66 with acreage - they are going for at least 350-400 which makes a down payment a little beyond what we can do to accomplish our 2019 goal of getting our first deal in the books.