What US city should I move to?

[Andrew R.]

Hello BP,

I currently live in Ontario, Canada. More specifically the GTA. Through an EB-5 Investor Visa I am looking to move to the United States to pursue my real estate career. An EB-5 Visa will allow me to obtain a green card and permanent residency. I am looking for a city that is good for both spec homes and rental properties.

I am looking for a city to both invest and live in. I plan on building spec homes as active income and building rental properties for passive income. I would be building rentals as opposed to flipping because its a cheaper alternative in more expensive cities. It also has numerous benefits like low CapEx and Repairs. I want my spec homes (flips) to be in the same vicinity as my rental properties. I have no interest investing into rentals out of state.

I want to build spec homes (flips) with project values roughly at $1.5MM and up. It could be semi-detached units at $750k each. 3 town homes worth $500k. Or a single family worth $3MM. I am simply just trying to give people a feel for what I like. I am looking for a big enough city that will get me excited.

The city should have a metropolitan population of atleast 1,000,000 (including surrounding areas).

Because I would be building rentals I would be looking to Cashout Refinance all of my deals. So I am trying to find an area that will most likely cash flow positive with a 70/30 LTV. Please keep in mind that these rental properties will likely be considered commercial. As I would be building 8-15 unit apartments. I don't mind leaving A BIT of my own equity into the property if it means breaking even or staying cash flow positive.

Los Angeles would be my most preferred destination because who doesn’t love California? But I understand that building a rental portfolio that will cash flow is incredibly hard in LA. I would really like to move to Denver but I heard cashflow rental properties are also difficult to come by. Does anyone know if this still applies when investing in commercial rental units, say 10+ units? From what I gather, its easier to cash flow positive on larger apartment buildings.

I am definitely open to different suggested cities throughout the United States. I am excited to here your guys’ opinions and advice! Thank you