Murfreesboro TN SFH Investment Advice

[Adam Vo]

Hi All!

I am fairly new to BP forums, but have been itching to jump into real estate investing for almost a year now. I am an out of state investor (I live in Hoboken, NJ) and have identified Murphreesboro TN as a target area. (cheap housing, growing population, good schools, low taxes, etc.)

I have been searching various sites and finding a decent amount of SFH 3 br / 2 baths properties (~1200-1500 sqft) in the $150-$180k range.

Wanted to see if anyone had any insights into this area and could answer a few questions:

• Any challenges renting houses in this area? How long are houses typically on the market?
• What is the typical rent that a property like this would demand? $1200/month?
• Any other watch outs that I should consider or areas that I should stay away from?
• Any recommendations on agents or property management companies in this area?

Thank you and look forward to hearing back!

Best,

Adam

[Gary Michalske]

Hi Adam,

I live and invest in Murfreesboro, TN and I've only been attempting to seriously invest in Real Estate since earlier this year. I have three deals going on in the Nashville area with another investor where I am the capital partner only. I should complete a flip I've been doing in Gatlinburg TN this month. I've completed three flips on properties in TX as a capital partner with two other investors. The only property I've secured in Murfreesboro this year will sell this month and it's a 3/2 SFH. Although my experience this year has been flips and new builds, my primary goal is to buy and hold. Finding a good candidate for a rental in the 'boro is tough and very difficult to even get close to the 1% rule; forget about 2 %. If a great deal does surface it's gone in a few hours. One can much closer to 1% if purchasing properties in the older, less appealing area of town. Different areas in Murfreesboro demand different rents as is common in most cities. As you mentioned in your post, you've found several SFH's between $150-$180. In this town, you'd only be able to rent them for around $1,000 - $1,200/month, again, depending on which area in town. I'm not saying you couldn't get more per month, but I think opportunities for higher rent would be far and few between.

I know my words don't sound very assuring to you but I don't let it stop me.  I just try much harder to find properties closer to $100K or less.

One highly recommended property manager is Scott Abernathy.  You can find his info researching rentfromscott.com.  Of course I haven't had an opportunity to use him yet but I do know one local investor who does.  He came highly recommended from him.