Keep as rental vs sell home in Jack Britt district.

[Derrick Blackwell]

I have a 2,500 sqft home in Fayetteville NC valued around 315K, 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath 1/2 acre. Built in 1989, located in a desirable neighborhood. The house needs some rehab I'm guessing  $25-30K in rehab expense to bring it up to market value. I currently owe 156K. My long term goals is to accumulate long term and short term rental properties, eventually multi family. I am also learning more about assisted living. I'm a registered nurse so assisted living as a business and real estate investment is intriguing. 

My questions are:

1. Is Fayetteville NC a good long term rental property in regards to appreciation.

2. Would it be wiser to sell the house and 1031 exchange into a more valuable home in a area that is likely to appreciate faster. 

              a. For more detail I am currently paying $985 per month and Zillow has rental value at $1890

3. Redfin had Fayetteville's competitive score ranked in the 80's. Thant's one of the highest in the country. Does anyone know why Fayetteville is so competitive?

3. If America goes to war would that drop value of homes in Fayetteville?

I am new to bigger pockets and this is my first time posting on the forum. The information I have obtained has been valuable and much appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Derrick Blackwell

[Matthew E Weber]

Fayetteville is one of the best Buy & Hold Markets in the nation and has been for a long time. If we went to war it would not effect your rental. The military would need more personnel and Fort Bragg is known as the Mecca in the military as well as being the largest military base for personnel. That doesn't include the DOD civilians and contractors. Being a veteran it is know throughout the Army that Fort Bragg gets everything first. (equipment, personnel, funding). 

The Housing allowances also just increased at the beginning of 2023 so that mean service members and veterans in the area using their GI Bill have more money to put towards rent. 

If you rent out your property it could bring you good returns. If you based your estimated value of your home off accurate and similar comps then you could easily buy 2 properties to buy and hold in the area and see a larger return. I regularly get and sell properties in the area working directly with investors.