Kalamazoo - Buy & Hold or Flip Market?

[John Tran]

Hello, I am Wholesaling in Kalamazoo, and I've been noticing that there is very few flip activity in the area. Whenever I comp properties, The property with the highest ARV is in livable condition, but still dated. For all you investors out there, do you typically purchase properties and rehab them to livable condition or do you guys do a full rehab that meets 2021 standards?

[Jessica A.]

Personally, we have been flipping for the last 5 years, but have recently switched to buy and hold. Kalamazoo doesn't have the strongest economy, so lower budget buyers are buying up anything that's livable. This is driving up prices of those "livable but dated"properties. On the other side of this, ARV's of rehabbed properties are not increasing at the same pace, so the margins are getting very slim if you are a flipper. Also, the City of Kalamazoo just passed very strict rental laws, so you are seeing a lot of local landlords in the city wanting to unload their properties. This is likely a factor in the lower pricing of MF. Hope some of this info helps!