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Updated over 6 years ago on . Most recent reply
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Micro Town Investing/ Do Tiny towns=Large Opportunities? Pop.500
Hello everyone,
I will start by saying that I am a brand new investor. I have one property with two houses on it I decide to live in one and rent the other(house hacking as I've heard it called), this put me on to the world of real estate.
I live in a tiny town in East Texas population 471. There are many other small farming towns around with anywhere from 500 to 3000 people. There is some industry around ( I work at a steel mill about 30 minutes from home) there are also so oilfield operations around. Other than that there is chicken farms, schools, and prisons.
I've been looking to buy another property but am having trouble calculating things such as property valve and rent that I could charge in this area. There are literally almost no houses up for rent anywhere around here which makes me believe that a rental would do good. My sister recently got a job in a neighboring town and had to rent the only property that she could find for rent for much more than what seemed reasonable. My father has a few small rentals in my home town that are always rented but I feel like he is under charging for most of them since it only takes him like a day to rent a property out. I don't know of any other investors around here to ask what they are charging.
Do any of yall have experience owning rentals in these micro towns?
What do I need to worry about?
How do I figure out how much to charge when there is nothing to compare too?
General thoughts on the concept of small town investing are encouraged.
Thanks,
Louis Collins
Most Popular Reply
![Greg H.'s profile image](https://bpimg.biggerpockets.com/no_overlay/uploads/social_user/user_avatar/126118/1621418057-avatar-longhorngreg.jpg?twic=v1/output=image/crop=720x720@119x0/cover=128x128&v=2)
I have made a living for 25+ years with Rentals and flips all over small town Texas. Most small towns are always in need quality rentals
I try to maintain my properties in better condition than the next guy so my typical tenants are teachers, law enforcement and the like
Keep in mind the typical granite countertops, stainless and expensive flooring is not required. Tenants are estatic with tile counters and $3 backsplash, inexpensive laminate and newish appliances
All of my rentals are 2%-3% and up