Analysis Paralysis - Selecting a first long distance market

[Matt Caresco]

The California exodus to places like ID, MT, TX, etc. have generated a ton of interest in Californians investing in other markets. 

What are the best ways to make a market selection as a starting point for a new investor? 

[Lee Ripma]

@Matt Caresco

I had this same issue. I live in CA and didn't know what market to pick. If you listen to my podcast I talk about how I just googled the top 10 cash flowing markets and picked one. I happened to pick a great one, Kansas City (mostly MO side but I'm in KS as well). It got me thinking about what makes good markets - still affordable but with population growth. 

I really dove into the data and I'm actually launching a software product called VestMap that allows RE investors to quickly look at the 7 location factors I think are important for any address in the US. Think of it as rentometer for location data. I recently did a large meta-analysis of the whole US by zip code (using geospatial methodology). Here are the 16 markets that I like based on that analysis. Feel free to email me for a link to the whole article (will be a blog post on VestMap.com when I launch) for detailed methodology. Too long to post here. 

Austin, TX

Dallas, TX

Fort Worth, TX

Houston, TX

San Antonio, TX

Charlotte, NC

Columbus, OH

Kansas City, MO

Las Vegas, NV

Mesa, AZ

Phoenix, AZ

Miami, FL

Jacksonville, FL

Orlando, FL

Oklahoma City, OK

Omaha, NE