Buying single family rental investment in Utah county

[Gaurav Nukala]

Any suggestions on which areas within Utah county to consider for a single family rental investment in Utah county? Any opinion specifically on areas such as Lehi, Saratoga springs, Orem, and Provo. We are looking to stay within $300k. We prefer areas that have a higher potential for rental with low vacancy rate. Thanks!

[Becca Summers]

1. Most of my applicants are married duel income earning families with 1-3 kids. There is a mix of needing a rental for job relocation and newly married. (Those are my favorite) Then there are a lot of long term renters with bad credit but good jobs trying to get out of condos and town homes.

2. American Fork is a little diverse a lot of the original families who've been there forever are still there 77% of homes are owned by the home owner with the rental market making up only %19 and the rest are vacant. Which I love because the competition is lower. The houses range from 1900-1990 there is some new builds but not a ton. It is mainly a blue collar community.

Saratoga Spring was incorporated in December 1997 so most of the homes are new and when they where built the land was cheap so the builders mainly built large single family homes 5-6 bedroom style. This area tends to be a single income earner with a stay at home parent and lots of kids. The schools out there are over populated and the school district is working hard to catch up. It's a mix of blue collar and lower income white collar. I find the rent rates are a bit lower because of the distance from the freeway. 

3. Most of the tech renters I know of are going into Lehi for a few reasons, when they move here for work they know Lehi is the same city their work is in making the research easier. There have been a lot of corporate investors coming in and building nice rental communities as well. I have seen some of the employees come in and want to be in the south part of Salt Lake County. With how our freeways are limited the access to I15 is a huge selling point to most renters. 

4. Apple to apples your looking at a $50-$75 increase for Lehi over American Fork. The big jump is from 2 bedrooms $900 to 3 bedrooms $1375 but that also has a lot to do with the age and condition of the home as well.