Where to look for best deals?

Question

Marcus Auerbach · Answer

@Brad Huseman - the answer is less complicated than you might think! My rental properties are all within 15-20 minutes of my home, stay local, you have the home field advantage. The real estate market moves very, very slow. Don't try to find that one neighborhood, that might turn arround - because it may not!

You should first define who you want to rent to, that will define the property you are looking for. The rental market looks like a bell curve in most areas, I like the upper side of the middle segment. Usually better school district, or if you rent to young professionals lots of quality entertainment. Study rents on Zillow (actual for rent listings). You want to nich down, become a specialist in one area. Dont way Chicago leads against Indi leads you go crazy. Pick an area with about 30,000 population and know it well, this is how you can respond to deals with confidence, before others are done running comps.

John Warren · Answer

@Daniel Cullen makes some very interesting points about schools, and I mention this to folks all the time. I invest in two of the towns he mentioned (Berwyn and Lyons) and both have rather pedestrian school systems to say the least. The thing is, they are also only 20-30 minutes from the loop in Chicago, so their are tons of economic opportunities. The people who live in these towns are solid folks who make good incomes and are qualified tenants.

To me, the focus on school districts makes sense if you are in more rural areas where the housing prices are lower. In the Chicago region, the "top" school systems will make zero sense for an investor. I mean who is going to invest in Hinsdale, Lake Forest or Barrington for cash flow?

Daniel Cullen · Answer

This platform is supposed to help with getting the information you're looking for: https://lofty.ai/

I signed up for a demo but haven't yet taken the test drive.

Sometimes the areas with less than stellar schools can be a comparative bargain. Not all working class parents are helicoptering their kids and demanding 5 star schools. There are some pretty decent deals in the North Riverside, Berwyn, Lyons area for SFR's.

Aaron Stuiber · Answer

Really like how @Marcus Auerbach puts it...

Take your home field advantage and run with it especially if you're just starting out and would like to self manage. Yes you can self manage from a distance but the cost of maintenance is going to be higher if your contractor / PM isn't 100% fully invested in your best interests.

I also liked the point about targeting your key tenant. Knowing WHO you want to rent to makes is much easier to find WHAT you want property wise because you should already have a good idea on what to expect.

Another suggestion would be to read updated articles created by real estate pro's / developers in that local area to understand the thought process of the professionals that are already operating in the area.

Best of luck!

Scott Morongell · Answer

@Brad Huseman the census bureau is a good site to pull data.

Where to look for best deals?

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