Any love for West Virginia?

[Timothy Doenges]

Hello all, I’m an aspiring investor coming up in central WV, and also just passed my exams for my WV real estate license. I’ve been trolling the BP forums for a while now, but see almost nothing on BiggerPockets about West Virginia. I wanted to ask a few questions: 1) Are there any investors on BP from West Virginia? I’ve used the ZIP code search to find members near me, but can’t seem to find any within 50 miles of me. 2) Is there any interest in WV from out-of-state investors? There are several markets near me where you can pick up the standard 3/1.5 or 3/2 in B - C+ areas for around $50-70k on the MLS (I’m sure lower for mailers or marketers), and the average rents in those areas are between $700-$800. Not quite 2% rule at list price,but still cash flows for sure. There also seems like there is room to flip homes in the B+ and A areas, but after looking at recent sales, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of flips going on. 3) Most of the podcasts and articles I’ve heard and read work with evaluating hot markets (or at least high-volume ones). Are there any good resources for valuing homes in slow or low-volume markets from an investment perspective? It seems like a whole different beast working in a town of less than 20,000 people as opposed to one of 100,000+. Thanks, Tim Doenges (Soon-to-be Re/MAX agent!!)

[Thomas Good]

@Timothy Doenges We've been investing in the Charleston and Huntington WV markets for about 10 years now. We mainly do rehab and resells, but we do have some commercial properties and single / multi family rentals. My take on WV is that for the most part it is a slow but stable market. We do not see the highs or lows in property values found in other markets.

Like other areas of the country, location and price point are key to finding the right properties. With the recent drug infestation in our region and overall decline in population, the quality of tenants have deteriorated in the last 2 years. However, if you have the right systems and processes in place along with well maintained properties, you can attract decent tenants.

Most out of state investors shy away from WV due to the decline in population, size of the WV markets, and future prospects for job growth, but there is still opportunity to make money. I can see alot of possible potential in central and northern WV with the announcement by China Energy to invest in WV up to 85 billion over the next 20 years in natural gas related activities. I just don't anticipate a big boom to occur overnight.