Newbie from Asheville, NC

[Lee Berkwits]

Hello world...  

I am interested in investing in Multifamily - though realize it is a bit late in the cycle - and at the point of trying to purchase my first property - getting practice with the BP calculators.  

I just joined BP Website at PRO level hoping to get full access to tools that assist with making the right decision, and converse with others in the community.

I have lived in Asheville (mountains of Western North Carolina) from 2006-2012 and 2015-present, and lived in Greenville, SC (1 hour south of Asheville) from 2012- 2015.

Real estate in Asheville has gone off the charts since 2012 people relocating from the Northeast and Rust Belt states, so cap rates are low on most deals.  A similar situation is going on in Greenville, SC, however, it is not as crazy as Asheville currently.  

I am looking to invest in the Southeast region rather than local.    In addition to high prices, we now have traffic jams.  

My investment goals are cash primarily flow

I have not yet assembled a team and realize that I will need to focus on a specific region and city (considering Tennessee - Johnson City vs Chattanooga as Nashville appears overheated) prior to pulling a team together.  

Glad join the BP community

Lee Berkwits

[Brian Levredge]

@Lee Berkwits, the economy is actually fairly diverse.  VW gets a lot of the press but there are plenty of other drivers here.  McKee Foods (Little Debbie) is, or until recently was, the largest manufacturer in Hamilton County.  Erlanger Health is the largest employer in the region.  Insurance is well represented with Blue Cross having their national headquarters here and Unum, the world's largest disability insurer.  

There are a ton of logistics companies here as well.  Chattanooga is a roughly 24 hour drive to 80% of the US population.  US Express is a top five trucking company that just went public (again) and Covenant Transport is another large trucking company.  The city is building a reputation as a regional start up for tech companies as well.  There are a number of universities/colleges regionally with UTC being the fastest growing campus in the UT system.  

Getting back to VW, they presently build two lines, the Passat and Atlas.  Many VW factories world wide build three to four lines.  With VW getting into electric cars now there is talk that a new electric car will be built here in the next year or two, and they have an option on 900 acres of land adjacent to their present site for expansion.  More importantly, a number of the suppliers that serve VW also serve BMW and Mercedes.  Chattanooga is almost equi-distant from Spartanburg, SC and Florence AL so suppliers are looking at basing their operations here in town.  

It really is a great market that flies under the radar because it's so small.  That's meant less competition for those of us here, but that's changed last few years obviously.  I do believe that in my lifetime we'll see the I75 corridor between here and ATL completely fill in, except for the mountain areas.