Best Places To Buy For Long Term

[Patrick R.]

I'm in my 20's and have about $55,000 per year in discretionary income. I need something to put it into and figure real estate rentals are the best bet thanks to the combined returns of rental income and the accrued value of real estate itself. I can buy pretty much anywhere as I travel often and am rarely home ATM.

A family friend from Massachusetts bought a house on Nantucket island for $220,000 in 1996 and sold it for $1.2m in 2014. Meantime, they rented it out for thousands of dollars per year in profits. In total, this one house made them over $1 million profit - post tax - over the 18 years of ownership. I am looking to maximize my profits by buying in the most up & coming markets possible, anywhere in the country, in order to hopefully a similar situation. Obviously it is difficult to predict, but I am real estate newbie in that sense.

Ideally, I could buy something in the $300,000-$400,000 range today in a high volume vacation area (which I assume means no trouble finding summer renters) which in 10 to 20 years, I could likely sell for a 75-100% increase in property value.

This is my first one, so I apologize if it sounds dumb. That's just my basic thought process.

Outer banks/the Carolinas? Hilton Head? What current markets are the most up and coming? If you could buy anywhere (on a budget), where would it be keeping the long term market in mind? 

Thanks to all for imput/advice.

[Chris Martin]

Not sure what you know about vacation rentals... before you jump in, I'd suggest you understand the market you target and balance that against your expectations on returns. You buddy's retuned, BTW, beat Berkshire Hathaway performance over the same period. And that's saying a lot. My warning would be "Past Performance is Not Necessarily Indicative of Future Results"

Buying at the tops of markets is not my cup of tea, but seems like I am in the minority. I'd stick to a low/no load index fund as part of the plan and avoid vacation rental markets unless you have a specific, high cash-flow niche that mitigates the seasonal downside inherent in most VR business.

My 2 cents