Rental Properties on Busy Roads

[Jordan Knoop]

I am a newbie to real estate investing and am looking to get into the game by renting out my current home. The house is located on the intersection of two busy streets and I am wondering how this affects the success of a rental property. In general are vacancy rates higher with a property like this? Are tenants of lower quality? Would rents be lower than other similar houses that are not on a busy intersection?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Mindy Jensen]

Hi @Jordan Knoop .

In general, vacancy rates will be higher, rents will be lower, vacancies will last longer. People don't want to live on a busy street when there are other options.

It will also take longer to sell this property because of the traffic. I live near Fort Collins, CO, and was helping a client find a house last year at this time. During the absolute hottest market Fort Collins has ever seen, and there was one house that sat on the market for more than 130 days because it was on a busy street. I don't know if it ever sold. 

You could get lucky with a tenant who wants to live there for years, or you could strike out and get continual one-and-done leases.

Have you ever read Stephen King's Pet Sematary? Of course it's horror fiction, but it's about a family that moves into a house on a busy road, and accidents happen.