Sleepy Towns

[Micah Brown]

I went to go see a house a few weeks ago that based on the numbers was a killer deal. I made the mistake of being too excited by the deal and hopped in the car with my partners for a 3 hour ride to this little town in central NC. I knew the house was 45 minutes from three major universities so I just jumped at it. We pulled into the town on a Saturday afternoon and there were no people on the roads. 4 out of 5 businesses were boarded up, the police station was the largest building and the houses were for the most part, run down shacks. A lot of 2 or 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom mill houses. The house we saw was a complete tear down project, even though I was told different. ARV would have significantly priced the house out of what that particular market would bare. It wasn't a total loss as we picked up a lead on a much better investment and are making an offer on that house but is there any money to be made in these run down towns across America? Have any of you guys/gals invested in a sleepy town successfully?