Don't Buy $30,000 pigs in Ohio (or Mid-West)

[Ben Leybovich]

It's not talking this time, though, if you've been paying attention, you know that I've been preaching this message for years...  Here's an email from this morning names and locations edited out):

Hey Ben - Really enjoyed your article on why not to buy 30k houses. I'm a real estate investor in (xyz MSA); I also own xyz Property Management - we manage about 240 units (mostly scattered-site) exclusively in this area. I wish all of our clients had read your article! They are losing money hand over fist in these Class D neighborhoods.

Anyway, if you're ever near to xyz MSA I'd be happy to grab coffee and talk shop sometime.

You should know that the subject MSA he practices in is the only one in Ohio whereby fundamentals are truly good, both relative to income and demographics, and even there $30k houses fundamentally do not work...

I've written a number of articles on the subject for the BP Blog - feel free to look them up.