Downtown Silver Spring Condos

[Brandon Russell]

Hi All,

I'm looking to purchase my first investment property. I'm hoping my first property will be close by so I can learn the ropes. I'm primarily interested in BRRRR properties but I'm just starting my research, so I'm still trying to get the lay of the land.

I live in the Silver Spring (Glenmont) area and I'm aware the pricing out here makes it difficult to find a deal that works for the BRRRR strategy. However, I notice there are lots of condos in the downtown area that are around the $250k mark. These would be more turnkey but I am curious about their viability. I've lived in the area for some time and it seems many of these places are newer and have not appreciated in value. See this listing: https://www.zillow.com/homedet... This particular property is near the train but it is a new construction and seems to always have units for sale. In fact, this one is cheaper than it was in the past. Sounds like something like this would be bad for equity but could be good for cash flow due to its location downtown. Do any of you real estate moguls in the area know why the prices seem to remain flat? Also if I go for a condo how would I check the owner-occupancy rate and see if the building has any restrictions on rentals?

Thanks in advance!

[Damon L. Davis]

Hey Brandon, I'm down the street at Georgia Ave and Spring St. I know that building well, and walked through it before the condo conversion was complete. You'll note in the listing the property value in the "Home Value" section it's been literally flat for 6 years. So, you can't force any equity in a condo, history shows the value is not going up to improve your equity, so I can't see how a BRRRR could work. But this could be a nice buy-and-hold for cash flow. Fully furnished it could pull around $2500 or more given its close proximity to downtown SS and the metro. You could rent it medium-term to professionals who flow through our area a lot. That's my model with another condo in the area. However, I recommend calling the building to find out about all of their condo fees. Ask about everything like utilities and any other fee that could eat away at your profit.