1% rule in Orlando, FL

[Sanjeev Sharma]

I'm new to real estate investment; in fact, looking to buy rental property for the first time. I've read several books on real estate and they all seem to suggest narrowing the list of properties using a "rule of thumb" calculation like the 1% rule and then doing a more detailed analysis on the filtered list.

I'm looking for single family homes in Orlando, FL on Zillow and Redfin using this approach and also cross referencing crime data and school ratings. As it turns out the vast majority of the properties which pass the 1% test are in areas with high crime and low school ratings. I started looking in Orlando because it keeps coming up in my google searches as a great market for rentals. Is there something I'm overlooking? Or maybe there's something wrong with the method, like am I setting the bar too high? Is Orlando really a good market?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.