Newbie from Charles Town, WV

[Jessica Derr]

Hi everyone,

My name is Jess Derr and I live in Charles Town (not to be confused with Charleston!), West Virginia. My husband Kevin and I moved here a year and a half ago from Frederick, Maryland because the houses out here are considerably cheaper than just across the river into Maryland. He's still able to commute to his job in DC (the drive is actually a bit shorter now!) and our mortgage is much happier than it would have been in MD. I work part time for Costco (their health insurance is unbeatable!) but I just had our second kid 5 weeks ago and we've decided it would make more sense for me to stay home with the boys and start focusing on real estate investing.

I've been searching through the forums and it doesn't seem like there are too many BP members out here in the panhandle. I know WV as a whole is a trickier state to invest in because as someone said on here, it's kind of a one-industry state, plus the opioid crisis has hit WV pretty hard. BUT I do think the eastern panhandle has a lot of promise and I'm curious if anyone else with experience here agrees? A lot of people in this area are commuters, which means their income isn't tied to the fate of the coal industry. It seems like that would make it safer to invest in this area. Ranson, WV especially seems very up-and-coming. Still doing my "market research" using Brandon Turner's tips from The Book on Rental Property Investing but I would love to talk to someone local about their experiences and recommendations.

Thanks in advance!

Jess