Portland Maine Buy and Hold

[Liam Goble]

I currently live in State College, PA, but my wife and I have considered a move to Portland Maine. All of our investments are in our local Pennsylvania market and I have no experience with PM or turnkey companies, however I am exploring both options currently.

I see a lot of discussion regarding out-of-area investing in different Texas markets, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Memphis markets. Ultimately, if it's simply a buy-and-hold investment, the area shouldn't matter too much, except that I want the right amount of stable growth coupled with consistent job growth. For my wife and I, we would enjoy taking 'business trips' to Portland, ME to look for additional rentals or to inspect the units we would own.

When I read through most of the BP posts, I see very few references to any markets in the North East. Is this because the NE is that much more expensive when compared to other markets? Is it that most North East REIs haven't found BP yet?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

[Dean Letfus]

"one of the turnkey companies I talked with in Memphis mentioned that in order to finance any of the properties they were offering would require significant down payments (30-40%) because the appraisal would not come in high enough to support the 'purchase' price. My initial reaction is that the asking price is too high if the appraisal won't support the sale price."

Keep well away from them Liam. Our market has more than a few over priced cowboys. Could take decades for the properties to be worth what they are trying to sell them for. if they have no equity now don't touch them!

THis whole strategy of "the price doesn't matter as long as it cashflows based on finance" is a reprehensible strategy. In New Zealand we would say it is stitching people up, (not a good thing) :-).