Birmingham vs. Indianapolis for rental property

[Jeff Howard]

Hello,

I am getting closer to pulling the trigger on our first investment home and have roughly narrowed it down to Indianapolis and Birmingham. Obviously very different spots, and buying in both areas is an option down the road, but for now I would love any specific thoughts and advice from actual investors within these MSA's.  Is one state more landlord friendly?  Any hidden tax or expense "gotchas"? Is closing the purchase and loan in one state any more difficult? I appreciate any feedback.  

Thank you!

Jeff

[Jay Hinrichs]

this is a question that many have why don't these folks just buy these homes in the mid west.

we see many 50 to 75k homes that folks buy for rentals.. the rents are 700 to 800.. sometimes a little less but folks could buy them and pay 200 a month in a mortgage and even with taxs and insurance maybe 450 to 500 all in... but they don't....

this is the big dichotomy of thought process between us Californians and half the population in the mid west .. WE Californians do everything we can to become a home owner.. We know that that is the single best investment most of us can make ( not only being the largest.)  And why is that well history tells us that our values ( subject to some fluctuation) will rise over time ( some substantially ) and we will some day own the home free and clear.

Then since it is CA we have a very liquid asset in most markets.. that is worth a substantial sum.. and I am not talking 100 to 200k.. I am talking 500 to millions..

If you compare that to home owner ship in the mid west.. We see it all the time.. DONT INVEST FOR APPRECIATION  that's speculating etc etc.  So the mid west values are quite stable.. they really don't move much.. one reason is massive amounts of land.. and values really won't go up much more than new construction cost to build.. ( there are pockets of hot inner city were this is not true ) but generally speaking in the older bergs of any of these towns the values just don't move.. At least since I started investing in them .. if anything they went down.. over the last 20 years..

So many who live there see home ownership as a burden or a not so great investment. And they don't want to have to work on the house they just want to rent it.. So you have all these cities that are quite older than our CA cities and the sprawl and flight has happened leaving thousands upon thousands of inner city homes to renters.. Schools decline.. folks that can buy move out to new construction. etc etc.

this is generally why.... in my mind and how you answer that question why don't these folks just buy these things.... why rent..