New member from California

[Terence Lee]

Hi BPers,

Just getting my feet wet in rental property buy/hold for cash flow. I own four properties in Indiana. Is it a good strategy to invest in one city and build up your profile there or branch out to other cities or state and diversify?

[Shannon S.]

I was born and raised in Kokomo,IN and still have one rental in Kokomo, though I've lived in Indianapolis most of the last few years.  Kokomo was hit extremely hard by the automotive companies there.  Delco/Delphi and Chrysler all took turns crushing the city around 2007-2008.  For those who want some stats - it was at 20% unemployment in about that time frame. 1 out of 5 and trust me it was worse then that figure tells. Forbes listed it as the hardest hit for job loss in ALL of America at 20% unemployment. As example 20% is close to what Detroit is "now". They could've done a special on it. Anyways. It's never going to be back to those days of everyone at the factories doing $50k to $200k, it's bounced back quite a bit from the nose dive. While the same folks who'd get new jobs starting at the factory around $25/hour now hit around $12-$15, there are jobs again and that makes for a lot of people who can't get home loans because of bankruptcy, *but* want a home and can make the payments. Great for that SF cookie cutter.  Still some good deals in the old Indiana Heights area even looking today. Many are the 50k-70k, 3 bed 1 bath and rent well for $450-$600 with a little a bit of polish.