North Shore VS Merrimack Valley VS Southern NH

[Curtis Baker]

We are in the market for a two or three family property that we will owner occupy for at least a year or two until we are ready for another. Rent is higher the closer to Boston you go but also home prices are too. We will have approximately $50k cash available when we are planning on buying which, in an area like Boston wouldn’t allow for much. Even in an area like Lynn (North Shore) the margin between gross monthly income and all expenses based on an $800k property would net us approx $-2500/mo. Lawrence, Haverhill, Nashua, and Manchester markets are tempting because the property values are lower.The margins between estimated monthly expenses and gross monthly income from the property are much smaller and could cash flow after minor updates and repairs.  Is it worth waiting until we have more cash and purchase closer to Boston or do we move our endeavors north to get into real estate and scale up from there?