Need advice on moving / selling and investing

[Jason Rikard]

Hi BP,

My family of four (two are pre-schoolers) is making strides to move to the Huntsville, Alabama area. Besides it being a beautiful area with lots to do, my wife has family in Gurley, Alabama and I am hoping to find full-time job prospects as well as real estate investment opportunities.

We currently own a paid off house valued roughly at $115,000 in a rural SC town (population 740/ closest big town is population 14,000) it is difficult to get comps and can take quite a while to sell.

We have considered putting our house on the market to sell with the intention of renting back from the buyer or elsewhere if it sells quickly and positioning ourselves to be able to make a cash offer on a property in the Huntsville area once one is located.

I would be looking for house hack opportunities (or duplexes although I hear they are almost non-existent) to where we could STR or LTR the basement or a "backyard house". Eventually we would move to another house to rent both portions of the first house.

We have driven several neighborhoods all around Huntsville and it seems that Madison may do better for STR but have read that there are lots of hotels going up in that area which may detract from that doing well. We also love the Hampton Cove and south Huntsville as well.

I'm open to plan suggestions on where to invest and meeting other investors/investor friendly real estate agents and other AirBnB/STR investors in the area.