Specialist · Salt Lake City, UT · Member since 2017 · 18 posts · 4 votes
Hello fellow BiggerPocket-ers, I'm hoping to get some feedback from people that understand a seller's market (Salt Lake area).
I am a novice to investing, but hoping to make a strong start. My goal is to acquire rental properties over time.
Currently, I am under contract for a home (with mother in law basement) listed at $250k. It has 3 bed/1 bath up and 2 bed/1 bath down in overall good condition (cosmetic issues, home built 1959). I am planning on moving in upstairs and renting downstairs (local rents are between $900-$1000/month for similar units). After a year, I want to rent out both levels and acquire yet another property and repeat the process.
This area (Salt Lake County/Utah County) is pretty hot right now, and speculation persists as to the timing of the next market correction. Would you recommend going for it and getting into a home regardless of market trends, or being patient and waiting for a better moment to buy a home?
@Cameron Eaton my advice would be to get into the game whenever you can. Yes, you could wait for the next correction to get a better deal but no one knows when that will be. If you can afford it, the numbers work, the experience you learn with this one will come in handy at the next down turn and hopefully you'll have $ set aside.
If you want to buy and hold this investment, the next few market trends/corrections in the near future (10 years) will not be important to your investment in 30-40 years.
@Alexander: I'm also a newbie and part of me wants to wait till the market correct itself and another part wants to go out there and invest. I don't really know what to do. But it makes sense, if you're looking for buy and hold, the housing markets don't matter as long as you're receiving cashflow.
I guess the bigger question is how to evaluate a good deal in a competitive market.