Where to Invest?

[Frank Gigliotti]

Hello all

Im an investor in Chicago and have done pretty well over the last few years. I am thinking about selling and investing out of state but am just not sure where. The main reason for this is that taxes are way to high and my thought is that my  money would would work harder for me some where else, like TX. Any thoughts?

[Wendell De Guzman]

Originally posted by @Frank Gigliotti:

Hello all

Im an investor in Chicago and have done pretty well over the last few years. I am thinking about selling and investing out of state but am just not sure where. The main reason for this is that taxes are way to high and my thought is that my  money would would work harder for me some where else, like TX. Any thoughts?

 Frank, we buy-and-sell houses in Chicago AND we buy-and-hold in FT MYERS, FLORIDA. Why?

1) You are right on the money - property taxes are out of control in Chicago. Ft Myers - the taxes are reasonable. A $200K house in an A area will have $2,400 to $3,000 in RE taxes whereas in Chicago, that will be in the $7,000 to $10,000 range.

2) Florida is a retirement state and that's where the baby boomers are moving (in addition to Texas and other warmer states). FL's population is projected to grow so much so that it will surpass NY as the third largest state.

3) Within FL where do the retirees move? To Southwest FL like Ft Myers. Retirees are good tenants - they pay ahead of time :-) and they generally take care of your property

4) yes - your money will work harder too. We have rental properties in Chicago as well but the returns we get from our Ft Myers properties are way higher.

Having said all the above - these are GENERALIZATIONS and will not work everytime on every deal. After investing in real estate since 2003, I know I can buy an awesome cashflow deal in Chicago even with the taxes and buy a crappy deal in Ft Myers even with the advantages above. So, it's deal dependent as well.