Thoughts in Decatur Illinois for buy & hold

[Scott Anderson]

I’m looking for some feedback on investing in a small house in Decatur Illinois. In particular I would like some thoughts on this market. At a high level it has some good things going for it: 3-4 large corporations including Caterpillar and ARcher, a small private college (Milikin), a busy railway corridor, and lots of agriculture surrounding it.

The population seemed to max out around 80,000 last decade and is now around 72,000 I believe. Median incomes are in the $50’s.

I am interested in buying a house to rent to students.

We talk so much about assessing deals, but where I could really use help is getting better at assessing markets.

Thoughts?