Rental Residential Property Investment: Market Recommendations

[Jay Thacker]

Hello All,

I am interested in investing in rental properties in economically diverse/robust cities (cities like Atlanta, Dallas come to mind).  Key criteria for me are (1) Corporate america presence (2) Not necessarily positive cashflow but rent should be able to pay for ~80%-90% of the mortgage (3) Price/Rental Income <15 (3) Strong population, economic growth projections (4) Access to reliable property management companies. 

I do anticipate accumulating a good number/concentration of properties in these cities once i start, hence the starting decision is important.

What markets/cities would the gurus on the site recommend?

[Sam Elliott]

@Jay Thacker I'm curious as well why you're not concerned with positive cash flow? I personally would never advocate that any of my investors purchase properties where they wouldn't achieve positive cash flow. Atlanta and Dallas are both booming markets. Atlanta has a number of large scale 5-10 year projects currently underway (the beltline is the big one that comes to mind) and which a plethora of fortune 500 companies whom call this city home it's quickly becoming a hot spot for investors both outside of the state and country for that matter. The biggest factor I stress about Atlanta is understanding the different areas (draw backs and benefits) which is important in any city but none more so than Atlanta. Often times it only takes 3-5 blocks to see home values change 30-50% so it's imperative you learn your areas. Hope this helps!