Poor Area Investment in my City

[Evan Parker]

I have a question for those of you who have experience investing in a poor area of town.

I found what I feel to be an amazing deal on a multi family property that would give great returns, however, it's in a poorer area of my city where there are quite a few abandoned buildings scattered around and very poor quality housing all throughout its immediate surroundings.

------>The unit itself doesn't seem to be in bad shape, it looks like it only needs to have a few windows replaced. Without me actually having a full building inspection, that's what I've been able to pinpoint from the naked eye. 

However, there's even an abandoned house/buildings literally two doors down from the unit I have looked at that has a broken in back door where you can tell people likely have gone in and out of that house and probably still do go in and out. 

BUT, when I drove around, the houses there seemed to all be occupied so finding tenants doesn't seem like a likely issue, truly the only problem is it's a lower income area, and the houses/surroundings definitely show that it's of lower income. 

Any experience in this kind of market in terms of success of your actual investment? Any suggestions?

[Todd Dexheimer]

 Numbers on these buildings look fantastic most of the time, however in real life those numbers are hard to achieve. In poor areas there is often a high crime and with the crime comes additional problems.  I don't want to tell you not to invest in this area because I do not know  anything about it. if there are vacant multi family buildings that would throw up major red flags for me. If you can rent to all government assisted residents or if the area is seeing a gentrification you may be able to have a very profitable asset.