How to find Up and coming areas

[Tom Manna]

I'm new to investing and will be making my first purchase soon, house hacking to be specific. What is a good way of determining an up and coming town? Before it begins increasing in value

[Leland Barrow]

You need to understand the city and what drives the market. Some cities are driven by a specific industry some examples are below":

El Paso- Freight/tansporation

Houston- Energy

Austin-Tech, Govt

San Marcos/ Waco- Education

Some cities are well rounded like Dallas with finance/energy/ag

Look for major industries that have continued growth and are predicted to maintain that growth. Then look at supporting cities for those industries. When Detroit collapsed the automotive manufacturing industry was struggling due to foreign competition. It took another hit when manufacturers started moving to states like Texas, or to Mexico. There are a lot of databases with data like illegal immigration growth, industry growth, and population growth. Cities with a growing population of illegal immigrants is going to be a strong market. That is an area that will have industry growth, job growth, and population growth. This means that there sill be stronger demand for housing.

Baby Boomers make up about 75 million people. They are retiring and they hold 60% of all of the U.S. wealth. What cities do you think they will retire to? Warm, dry climates? Florida, California, Arizona? Smaller houses in retirement friendly cities will be hot until that generation is gone. Just behind them are millennials at about 74 million people. They do not like to marry or marry later. They are ok with not owning vehicles. They are not having kids. They want to live in areas where they can  sleep, eat, and entertain themselves with in biking or Uber distance. What cities will be hot for millenials? San Jose, SF, Portland, Austin etc. What will the millennials want in their thirties since they are having families later? Suburbs around those areas will be hot. 

The rust belt is inexpensive and a lot of people are investing in cash flow there, but what market are they chasing Millenials, Boomers? Those two generations will drive the market because Gen X already owns a home and are anchored they are not the transient populations.