Purchase in town where there is literally nothing to rent?

[Jeff Williams]

So, I am looking at purchasing for a buy and hold on the outskirts of RALEIGH, NC. Which most may know is rapidly growing. I am looking far enough out to be affordable for me at this moment because the closer you get to RALEIGH, the higher the purchase price. When I look on Zillow to see the current rents in certain areas, I have found a couple towns, that literally have no houses listed for rent. I have talked with some acquaintances and they say all their units they have are always 100% full. Common sense tells me, if there are deals in these towns, I need to buy them up, and I can probably set a better rent rate since there is not many homes available to rent??? Am I right?

I can move my cursor (on Zillow) to the next town, 10 to even 20 minutes away, and there are several houses available for rent. Thoughts? This might be the market that I need to focus on?

[Chris Martin]

Check more sources than just Zillow... RentOmeter perhaps... or contact a PM/agent in the area who may have an idea of rental densities. Or, spot check with county records in your target neighborhoods. Just check for non-people owners (e.g. LLCs) or mismatch between property owner and address.