Considering Des Moines, IA as a potential investment market. Any insights?

[Cole Rorebeck]

Hello! I am a real estate agent, and single family home investor located in north central Missouri. I currently operate a portfolio of 18 single family homes in a small town. I have been learning about the efficiencies that come with commercial multi-family and plan on making the transition in a few years. Currently I still need to narrow down a market to learn about, and have been considering the cities in my local vicinity (3h drive). This would include Omaha, Des Moines, or KCMO. Out of these I feel the most drawn to Des Moines, I just visited there last week and really enjoyed my time visiting the downtown market as well as the botanical garden. Looking to connect with anyone in this area who can hopefully help me break into this market in the coming years. 

[Ashley Noethe]

Hi Cole! I am a realtor in the Des Moines metro and have a few investments. We have a 5-unit commercial multifamily in Indianola that cash flows fantastic, but is an older property. You'll find that, like anywhere, it is hard to find both cash flow and appreciation properties so it depends what you are going for. The city of Des Moines and most of the metro areas do have rental inspections and certificates required unless you focus on a smaller rural area less than 15,000. In Indianola (15 miles south of Des Moines) they just started rolling out inspections given our population growth. All that being said, I love this market. It is growing, it is comparatively affordable, and was just named the #1 metro area for young professionals and Iowa was named #1 state to retire. What is your budget?