BP fan for years, now actively investing! Hi from Illinois :)

[Tasha Smith]

Hi BP Fam! My husband and I like many here, are so thankful for this community as we navigate our real estate journey. We are actively investing in the Champaign market, selling an inheritance property in Central Florida and trying to figure out what to do with our long term lease in Phoenix, AZ that is currently costing us a few $100 vs. cash flowing :) Excited to meet others, would love to know of any in person meet ups in southern/central Illinois. happy to be here!

[Jason Wray]

Tasha,

Congrats on the success so far and even though there is a $100 cost in AZ its not that far of a drive to Las Vegas or to NV in general. There is a huge influx of people coming from California moving to Nevada due to its expanding growth and the New Hollywood movement. Maybe consider selling the home in AZ and doing a 1031 exchange into a NV property.

Champaign is a great area my Corporate office is over in Chicago but my office in Florida. Central Florida is another great spot depending on where and what type of rents LTR, STR, MTR. We just got a beat up with Hurricane Helene for the first time in 30 years in Pinellas County. Beaches took a lot of damage but it will mean a full make over and it will be better than new.

One thing for sure is even though we had a bad storm we will continue to top growth rates and tourism has never been as strong since COVID. Have you looked into other cities like Cape Coral, Crystal River, Tarpon Springs, Clearwater, in Florida. You can still find some great cottage style homes or even 2-4 units close to the beach that have great STR returns.

One good thing about being out of state in IL is you can find a good Single family home, Condo, or Townhome and call it a Vacation home and only need 10% down.  Still rent it out and the next following year transition it into a full time rental.  

[Scott Trench]

Welcome, @Tasha Smith and best of luck in your investing! 

I just checked, and while it does not appear that there are any upcoming events in central Illinois hosted by BP Members (https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-real-estate-events-...), it does look like there are some big ones in other parts of the state. 

Please let us know if there's anything BP can add to make your journey smooth!

[Jonathan Klemm]

Hey @Tasha Smith - Welcome to the BiggerPockets Community!

I am sadly much further up North in Chicago, where we have a ton of local meetups (if you are ever up here, please reach out!), but my friend @Brad Stegall hosts an AWESOME MEETUP in Peoria, Illinois, which shouldn't be too far for you.

What do you see happening currently in the Champaign Market?

[Julio Gonzalez]

Welcome to BiggerPockets, Tasha! 

-Julio

[Andrew Syrios]

Welcome to BiggerPockets Tasha and best of luck investing!

[Tasha Smith]

Appreciate you @Jonathan Klemm! I gave Brad a follow and look forward to checking out the meet-ups. 

Champaign seems like a great early investor market so far. Decent amount of homes for sale in spring and summer, especially for those that are looking for single family under 350k. Majority of the population is here for U of I and the hospital, Carle.

[Tasha Smith]

Quote from @Scott Trench:

Welcome, @Tasha Smith and best of luck in your investing! 

I just checked, and while it does not appear that there are any upcoming events in central Illinois hosted by BP Members (https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-real-estate-events-...), it does look like there are some big ones in other parts of the state. 

Please let us know if there's anything BP can add to make your journey smooth!

Thank you, Scott! Looking forward to meeting some BP family in person soon :)  

Set for Life was one of the first books I listened to when I started getting serious about my finances - appreciate everything you and your team does for the RE investor community.

[Savannah Holzer]

Hey Tasha! I am from Phoenix, AZ - would love to discuss potential ways out for this LTR. Going to meetups and conferences in a market you live in or are interested in investing in is always a great way to get a good sense of what it is like investing there and seeing how your property could potentially perform. Would love to talk about your goals with investing in the Champaign market as well as discuss financing options to see how I could best help!

[Jonathan Klemm]

I can definitely get behind some of that data @Tasha Smith.  $350k is nearly the median home price across the nation, which Iearned at BPcon2024 is roughly $402k.

A couple of other metrics I would like to consider are the purchase price-to-rent ratio and average time on the market for rentals (length of supply).

[Quentin McNew]

@Tasha Smith I've been investing in Champaign, IL the past 8 years and the foundation to my portfolio, because of the PEOPLE and contractors being in place helps speed decisions up. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has seen record enrollment in recent years: it set its highest attendance in history, with over 57,000 students enrolled and in 2024 just had highest freshman attendance in history and keeps growing, Carle Hospital, Craft Factory (Warren Buffett approves), etc for diversity of economic drivers. It doesn't get appreciation like others, but rent to price ratios set you up for the long term. I've been focusing on 1980+ or newer and Mahomet, IL which is the highest median income city in Champagin County around $115,000 with the top school districts in state (Chicago, Naperville, etc can sway statistics easy). I attend 3-5 meetups monthly and we have local meetup https://www.cirpp-live.com/ been arounds since 1974 and we meet twice a month (one network night at local spot food, drinks, socialize and one day 1130am-1pm guest speaker and food at I-Hotel on campus) that have found vendors, private lenders, etc. I also take the 2 hour drive to Indianapolis, IN or Chicago, IL for real estate MeetUps sometimes depending on goals for the quarter. Chicago has 5+ different ones that I been to in person, but has ZOOM virtually at 6pm on Sundays https://ccia-info.com/upcoming-events and have found investor partners even from virtual attendance "haves and wants". Go Illini! 

[Drew Sygit]

@Tasha Smith what's the trendline look like for rents in Phoenix?

It's not uncommon for Class A rentals to negative cashflow for the first 3-5 years, until rents increase at a higher rate than taxes & insurance increase.

While this can be an unpleasant situation, Class A properties tend to appreciate the most and attract the best/easiest tenants.