St. Cloud, MN - Multi-Family & Single Family Rentals

[Jacob Gay]

I am new to real estate investing and looking to invest into either single family or multi-family rentals in St. Cloud, MN. The Price:Rent ratios seem favorable compared to the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro, but I've seen posts from the past that indicate St. Cloud is not a market worthwhile. I was hoping to connect with other folks in the area to better understand the local area better and see if anyone has advice? TYIA

Jacob Gay

[James Hamling]

@Jacob Gay Different strokes for different folks. 

Name the market, literally anywhere, and will find people who love it and hate it, people tend to press there personal take as being "the" official dictate of a market. 

Saint Cloud is a regional hub market, most will not know what that even means, so if they don't know the basic fundamentals how can they have any form of accuracy in there assessments, right. 

You can absolutely make $ int he market, can make small $, BIG $, and loose $. And not all people are capable of operating a property the same, I had on in St Cloud that seller was barely making anything on it, so sold it, and now it's a cash cow, same property, done as same kind of rental, just different management styles. 

[Nick Knoblach]

@James Hamling Your comment makes a lot of sense here. But I'm wondering, what did the second property manager in your example do so differently to be able to turn the same exact property into a cash cow?

[James Hamling]

Quote from @Nick Knoblach:

@James Hamling Your comment makes a lot of sense here. But I'm wondering, what did the second property manager in your example do so differently to be able to turn the same exact property into a cash cow?

 Sad part is, nothing of any ground breaking anything. He was actually rather novice himself. He took 10 photos for listing vs 1, may think that's a joke but I am being literal. And put an ounce of effort into the pic. Listed it on more then just Craigs List. Again, sounds like a joke but it's again literal. 

You'd be amazed the level of mis-management one can find in St Cloud area, it's mind blowing. You'll find people who have not raised rents in 10 years as they didn't think a person could really do that. Or others purposely renting hundreds below market because, in there mind, it keeps things simple. 

On the whole it's a wildly UN-profesional market. So a person dosn't have to do anything special to be, special. 

[Jeff Schemmel]

@Jacob Gay What's your current living situation?  I started by house hacking because it comes with a lot of flexibility and if you can buy with a low-down-payment owner-occupied loan product the returns on your cash invested are often really nice.  If you're paying rent now, you are pretty likely to be able to buy a property and live in it and rent part of it to someone else for a similar cost of living or better if you play your cards right.  Own an asset, learn to be a property owner and landlord, and afford yourself the ability to build wealth with a 0, 3.5%, or 5% down payment mortgage option.  Happy to chat anytime.  

[Lucas Anderson]

@Jacob Gay curious to know how things shaped out with you in this market? I was seeing the same things as you with my initial research of the St. Cloud market - price to rent ratios are good, houseses are in decent shape, etc. 

My realtor simply told me that renting can be tough.

Curious to know your thoughts on this if you pursued.