Young investor looking to invest in Waterbury CT

[Abrar Haque]

Hi guys,

I'm a new young investor (22) from NY looking to invest in Waterbury, CT, roughly 1.5 hours away from where I live. The strategy I am learning towards is to buy and hold MFR's with good cash flow, appreciation is not necessary as these would be very long holds. I will be employed so I will lean towards using a property manager and saving most of my money looking to invest and reinvest it into real estate am currently able to meet the 20% downpayment requirements.

Since I am young and do not have a financial responsibility to take care of my family I am not very risk averse but am always looking for ways to minimize risk as any investor would. So my questions to those investing in Waterbury and familiar with the area are:

1. If you have a focus in buy and hold cash flow investing is it as good as it sounds or is the rental market too saturated.

2. For those familiar with the neighborhoods, is the 06710 zipcode too risky as a first investment? If so any suggestions?

3. How often have you ran into tenants who fail to pay rent, how often have you had to evict, and any tips to avoid this?

4. If you are currently using a property manager, how did you come to choose yours and are they doing as a good job as you would have done self managing?

5. How has COVID affected the market in terms of how long it takes to find a tenant and the rent rates?

6. Investors of all sorts how have your experiences been with the area?

I am eager to learn and looking forward to any knowledge and tips the community is willing to share!

Thank You!