Investing in anticipation of a move

[Jennifer McElliott]

*Disclosure... i have this posted twice... once in the local communities and now here - so if you've already seen this post - sorry!

My family might be in a situation in the next 9 months where we'll be moving from WA to the Prattville/Montgomery, AL area as a result of a military move. We currently have a couple of SFRrentals up here in the WA area (Snohomish County) and are looking to increase our portfolio... but now I'm a bit torn on whether we continue to invest here in WA or if we look to AL now that we will likely be moving there by next summer.

Pros and Cons that I've weighed for investing in AL as opposed to WA:

Pro -

1.) it's cheaper!! Nice houses, for almost turnkey rentals can be had for 1/3 of what we pay here in WA) so we could potentially purchase more properties.

2.) It appears we can easily get the 1% rule out of SFR rentals (I haven't seen any duplexes in that county) in that area.

3.) The area seems to be a stable economy that is supported by the Air Force Base that is near by as well as some industrial type companies. The region (Autauga County) is considered AL fastest growing community.

Cons -

1.) obviously i don't know the ins and outs of that area, good neighborhoods v sketchy/riskier ones since we don't live there (yet)

2.) we won't always live there - though I know there are tons of folks on this forum that have property out of state and just use PMs to manage them...? i gather it's still riskier to buy out of state compared to in your own backyard.

3.) not really a con - but weighing against buying in AL would be that we still have 9 or so months before the move... we could still look and purchase here in our backyard as opposed to waiting...though the deals we see here don't meet the 1% rule, while meeting the 50% rule.

So these are my initial thoughts on the issue - I'd love to hear any feedback from the experts out there... any other military members who encounter these types of frequent move and invest types of life situations... so thanks in advance for your input!!!