Don't know where to invest in Georgia? Help?

[Audrey James]

I want to sell my rental in Arizona and do a 1031 exchange to purchase a rental in Georgia to get a positive cash flow. I'm looking at purchasing around $195k in Georgia, but don't know what city in Georgia that I can get $1300+ in rents for a nice home. I don't want a fixer since I'm in California. Also, is there something I need to be aware of in Georgia? I don't know anything about Georgia.  Can you help me?

[Richard Balsam]

@Audrey James -just be extra careful before you invest for cash flow across the country. It's easy for those living here and knowing their market to suggest areas - but the possibilities of a poor investment remain high for you for the following reasons:

1. You say you don't know much about Georgia and need help.

2. There are too many variables regarding a $200K investment here. Do you want inside the beltway, or outside the beltway? Suburbs or intown? Good school district or average one, but a bigger home for $200K? Only you can make this decision.

3. Are you only investing for cash flow- or do you mean in the short term, you want cash flow? How about long term appreciation? Most areas have already experienced nice appreciation - but there are pockets that are still struggling (yes, inside Atlanta has plenty of areas off people's radar, and suburbs such as Lithonia, Stone Mountain and south Snellville, etc- are not what you would want for long term appreciation, when you can invest in more desirable areas such as Marietta, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, to the north, or even south suburbs are doing well - such as parts of McDonough, & Hampton, etc - where you can get a larger house for the same capital - and will cash flow just as nicely - but not experience as much upside potential. Plenty of opportunity to the west too-  Douglasville - is great too for cash flow. Tons of areas - hard to recommend just one area- it depends on what you want and are comfortable with.

4. Don't forget - if you are looking for $1300/month cash flow on a $200K investment - (which is a low ROI in my opinion) - you will need someone to manage the home. Renters everywhere tend to not pay, pay late , disappear, cause damage, etc. Subtract 10% from your monthly cash flow for a good property manager. Repairs? Subtract even more. Need to visit for some reason- subtract the cost of cross country flights, hotel. etc. Perhaps if you had multiple homes here at one time- you can reduce the burden of travel since you can manage multiple projects at the same time. But- one home may prove difficult.

To me it's looks less like a good investment, and more like a way to park cash in a house and see what ROI you can get. Why Georgia? I bet there are great cash flowing houses closer to you- like in Texas (Dallas, Houston ,San Antonio). Tons of investors there- and not as difficult to visit if needed. Georgia is great too- but I live here - it's easy for me to visit my homes and manage them myself.

Are you making your decision to invest in Georgia - due to stories you hear about how great it is to invest here? Or- do you have family or friends here that can help you with managing the home? Yes- our eviction procedure is easy and quick- compared to neighbor states. Is this one component you are considering in your decision? 

Not sure why you want to invest cross country for one home - since you do not want to rehab - and need move in ready. Just trying to have you look at both sides of the coin. Plenty of upside, and yes- plenty of downside if things go wrong. I would think it's best to make a visit to Georgia and look around for a few days before parking your capital somewhere.