Location for multi-family homes

[Antonio Bodley]

How important is location for multi-family investing even if there is income potential? Would you advise to stay away from buying multi-family homes in poor neighborhoods?

[Loren Polito]

Quote from @Antonio Bodley:

Quote from @Loren Polito:

Quote from @Antonio Bodley:

Quote from @Taylor Dasch:

I wouldnt buy in poor neighborhoods just because I am too uncomfortable to be calling the tenants reminding them to pay rent. There is a lot of opportunity in poor neighborhoods though. When I transfer over to a property manager, I will only care if the numbers work out - however I would put a much higher vacancy number for rent not paid as well as evictions if that is common in your market. The only thing you cant change about a property is the location and now that I type it out, I dont think I would invest in poor neighborhoods, unless you mean income wise. When you say poor neighborhoods I am assuming you mean areas with a high crime rate along with low income. 

I mean poor as in low income areas that looks like trash. The homes in the area are in desperate need of MAJOR repairs. Lawns needs extra special attention. Trash needs to be cleaned up around the property. I rarely find multi-family homes in decent upper income communities.

I would steer clear of areas like that. For the obvious reasons that most likely you aren’t going to get a great tenant profile in there which means they will probably not pay rent on time and will trash the property and not maintain it. I rather buy in a better area even if my cash flow is lower but I know I will have less headaches and better appreciate in the long run. Also, I know some property managers that won’t even take on properties in bad areas like the one you speak of just because of all the trouble that comes along with it. If you are having trouble finding multifamily in better areas maybe try out of state which will give you more options. 

Yeah I don't feel comfortable buying in those areas either even for myself to live in. How to buy and manage multi-family homes out of state? Isn't it risky buying properties you are not physically there to see?

I started investing here in San Antonio about 4 years ago when I was still living in California. I didn’t want to invest in California because the prices were crazy and it’s not a landlord friendly state on top of all the other issues going on there.  I was able to get hooked up with a great multifamily agent who had the team in place for me to use. Great property management, a really good inspector, and great contractors. At first investing out of state seems pretty risky but if you can find a good team it’s actually pretty hands off and makes a lot of sense. If you have any interest in the San Antonio market please let me know. I now live here and have my license to help people who were in the same situation as me wanting to get into the multifamily market out here but are hesitant because they are not local.