MF/SF investing in Springfield IL and Warner Robins Ga

[Ilan Sasson]

Hi All,

Wanted to see if anyone had/have the experience in long term investments in these location, given they are 3rd/4th tier locations, but have some sort of large anchor. Springfiled IL, due to government jobs and warner robins due to a large army base.

Would love to hear thoughts.

Ilan

[Joel Owens]

Hi Ilan,

I have lived in GA all of my life.

I am up in Cherokee county. Warner Robbins is on the other side of Atlanta.

In GA there are generally about 3 main cluster areas. Atlanta sits in Fulton county and in the ( MSA ) metropolitan statistical area there is over 25 counties. The 2nd cluster tends to be around the Warner Robbins area and the 3rd is down by Savannah,GA with the ports,tourism, and beaches.

Those areas tend to be where most of the growth is. The places in between tend to be rural to weak suburban in nature and are more suited to local investors.

Warner Robbins has it's good and bad areas just like anything else. You want to own where the low crime is occurring and new residential and commercial growth is happening. The Warner Robbins economy is more heavily base dependent.

If I was an out of state investor I would analyze the 3 main clusters or areas and compare price points with rental cash flow and location quality. Look for population growth,median income, school systems, crime levels, future development plans, etc.

You have to decide if you want all appreciation and limited cash flow, moderate cash flow and appreciation, or mostly cash flow but little to zero appreciation. If you are a very high income earner then owning average to poor assets that throw off cash flow but are a major headache running from states away shouldn't be the goal. The desirable areas here just like other states for SFR do not throw off much cash flow but prices per sq ft tend to be cheaper than other states.

I am in the commercial space so I do not concentrate on residential. Warner Robbins if you want to do SFR would be best to get a local person there. You have to be careful they don't sell you the junk at inflated prices that the local investors will not buy etc.