Birmingham Alabama SFH investing

[Kevin Tran]

Hi Everyone,

Im looking to invest in SFM (less then $125K, 3Beds) in the Birmingham & surrounding areas.  

In my research so far, Birmingham seems to have potentially good cash flow.  However, the area has 2x the national average of vacancy (B'mgh 10.89% vs US 5%), also the new delinquent  and foreclosure rate is trending up (B'mgh >1600 units).

So my questions are:  

1. Are Jefferson and Shelby counties experiencing decline in job growth or population growth.

2. Is the real estate in B'mgh area too invested already, and now some over leveraged investors are getting into trouble?

3. Please share your thoughts on SFH investing in B'mgh area, the good and bad.

Thank you.

[Josh Anderson]

Originally posted by @Spencer Sutton:

Birmingham is a competitive market and unless you live here and source motivated sellers yourself, you are likely going to pay too much. 

It's my experience that out of state investors pay too much and they're not educated on the areas enough. They believe TK providers who say that Centerpoint is a B area when it's clearly not a B area. 

Here are my thoughts on some popular Birmingham areas:

A - Mtn Brook, Vestavia, Homewood

B - Alabaster, Calera, Trussville

C - Centerpoint, Pleasant Grove, Hueytown 

D - East Lake, Ensley, West End

F - Wylam, Inglenook, and a lot of other places

There's a lot more that could be said about how to invest in Birmingham real estate for long-term wealth creation. Patience is the biggest key. Have a long-term goal, be disciplined, and do your homework.

This didn't really answer your questions above, but I hope that it's helpful!

I feel like everyone's rating will be different, and really slanted if you only invest in higher end parts of town, which sounds like you might.

We invest in the lower end, for rents as the return rate is much better, and section 8 is easy peasy to work with.

There are plenty of parts of Ensley, Wylam, and Inglenook that are great to invest in, they are street by street.

Heck, I could classify Eastlake as a C

So being in the hood with our houses. I would make this analysis

A - Hoover, Mnt Brook, Homewood, Pelham Trussville, Alabaster 

B - Clay, Pinson, Centerpoint, Pleasant Grove, Leeds, Moody, South point

C- Tarrant, Inglenook, Eastlake, Birmingham, Norwood, 

D - Ensley, West End, Titusville, Midfield, Fairfield,

F - I don't personally have any F area, I think there are good streets in every area if you are a out of state investor I would avoid anything below a B, as you can get sold a house on a bad block and overpay