Old New England homes

[Nicholas Leimbach]

I currently live on the north west end of Connecticut. I've been searching for my first buy for a couple months now most of the places that I've been looking at are foreclosed single families and multi families that are priced appropriately for the area. Needless to say, they all need Work. All investors alike, how do you feel about these older New England homes as rental property's or flips? I'm talking about places that are 1950's all the way into the late 1800's maybe even earlier than that. Are properties like this a waste of time and funds? because that is the majority of the inventory around here. I was hoping to start local in order to pay my self on the management aspect, hopefully even a house hack. I have an understanding of the market around here but slim pickings when trying to find a property that I can force appreciation into without going over budget.

[Justin F.]

They need work, but depending on the period, are built well. Broadly speaking, the biggest problem that I've seen in Connecticut, from an investment perspective, is that multifamily is still priced like it's a potential NY suburb instead of a quiet New England town with diminishing employment catalysts and population growth relative to its neighbors. The rent growth doesn't seem to be there, even if the occupancy is. Having said all that - It's always good to start local, if you fix up a cheap house that you got for a good deal, you're not going to go too far wrong.