ADVICE NEEDED! NH Manchester 3 unit multifamily near Elm

[Rick M.]

I'm looking at a few 3 units in Manchester, New Hampshire near Elm Street, it's my assumption since everything Shops, bars and parks are on Elm that Elm is a desirable place to live/own a property. The Three properties are on streets near Elm (2, 3 and 5 blocks away, walking distance to downtown Manchester), one is on Auburn St, one on Lake ave and one on Merrimack st, the farthest one away from Elm is 5 blocks away. My question is this downtown area a good place for a first time investor? This will be my first, hopefully not last, multi I buy in the area and I want to make sure this is a semi decent place to live/rent out an apartment. Mind you I will be occupying one unit for my FHA load stipulation. Thanks for the help

[Greg Powers]

I have lived in Manchester for 17 years, my kids are in school here, and I'm a real estate agent, so I can give you ground-level opinion.  The three streets you mention--Auburn, Lake, and Merrimack--are pretty tough that close to Elm.  Probably not a good place for a first time investor, and probably not an area you'd want to live.  I assume you're looking at those because the rent/price ratio or other metrics are attractive, and there's a reason for that.  

You would think that because they're so close to the downtown hubbub they would be appealing to younger folks and professionals; and there HAS been some development downtown that is drawing that demographic in, but most of it has been in refurbished mill buildings and other renovated historic properties.  The bread-and-butter 2-6 unit multifamilies are still NOT appealing to the people you're envisioning in the areas you mentioned.

The Elm to Maple corridor tends to brighten up a bit as you move north from Bridge Street--say, from Prospect Street north.

If you live in the building you have a degree of control over who you're renting to, so that can insulate you from some problems you might encounter as an absentee landlord.  And hey, if you're ambitious, you could enlist neighboring landlords to spruce up your block and be in the vanguard of transforming that part of town, which really deserves to be transformed.  :)