Newbie Investor - Where to Invest?

[Greg Elfrink]

Hey everyone,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but figure would ask here :-)

I've been a big fan of BP for a while and have started saving money for my first property. I have a property now that I became an accidental landlord of (read: no cash flow but tenant pays the mortgage) when I became a digital nomad. It's not a huge hassle so I keep it around and might refinance it (to get rid of the MIP). Likely would have to do repairs first to do that though.

My big questions reading the BRRR strategy is related around finding a solid market for me to invest in for my criteria. Not sure if this is reasonable critters though.

Here it is:

1. Can buy a property needing repairs for $30-60k and spend $10-40k on repairs.

2. ARV $100k-$150k to do the cash out refinance

3. Cash flow at or close to 1% of ARV (imagine this is the 1% rule not that it would cash flow 1% of the initial cash buy)

4. Preferably no flood zones or other hazards

5. Locale with population growth and preferably no one job sector making up the lionshare of labor (I’m from Alaska and it’s dominated by the oil industry which ain’t great at the moment)

My long term plan is to buy 2 per year and scale that up over 5–8 years for an early retirement (I make fairly good money to buy and once I know what I’m doing think with the refinance can buy a lot more than 2 per year).

So where are good areas to look at doing this?

I’m not exactly asking for deals, but I would like to start analyzing deals to get some practice in the general vicinity where my criteria makes sense.

Imagine it’s the Midwest somewhere but where?

Also, any advice on how to practice analyzing deals? Just look on Zillow or Redfin and use those deals as my practice?

Ideally would like to buy mainly in one solid city/area for economies of scale with property management and other things.

Still learning so hopefully this sounds realistic and appreciate the feedback :-)

[Connor Dunham]

Hi @Greg Elfrink,

BRRR strategy works well just about anywhere but is a time-intensive activity until you get to the refinance stage. House hacking multi-units would work well, and if you want a fixer-upper, apply for an FHA 203k loan. Predicting growth can be very tricky and takes a lot more economic knowledge (not theory) than anyone takes in 8 years of college. I might be playing to your bias as someone in the technology space, but given the secular trend of capital concentrating in technology companies, try to buy near their headquarters if you are looking for appreciation. If you are looking for cashflow, that's on the other end of the spectrum. Just about anywhere in the south, strong cashflow can be found. I would argue though, that you should buy where you want to live.

Looking at your numbers, they are extremely low for most markets with appreciation above 2% per year. Given your short term goal of 5-8 years, just buy for cashflow and think about what kind of tenant you'd like to rent to. Also, remember the number of units isn't really the goal, it's the ratio of dollars per headache. For me, that means keeping the number of units low, but the rents high. Best of luck and cheers to your journey!