Oklahoma City and Tulsa Rental Market Good?

Question

I'm looking into buying a rental property in ok city or tulsa.

How is the market there? Is there a demand for rentals? Is the job market good?

Do tenants pay rent and take care of property? Crime?

Any feedback from those who rent property in the area would be appreciated?

Deborah Burian · Answer

@Cynthia Miller This is a perfect example of the issue buying out of one's community.  Oklahoma City and Shawnee are approximately Mars and Venus.  We  live and invest in near NW Oklahoma City and it take "Constant Vigilance!" (nod to Harry Potter) to stay up on what areas are working and not.  I have investor friends who do very well in Shawnee and I have at least one who bolted from the area. This is not to say anything negative about Shawnee (really, @Paul Choate) it's to say that the question is much too broad.   There are approximately 1.3 million people in the metropolitan area, yes there are war zones.  There are terrific zones.  It's sometimes hard to sort them out. To even think of investing remotely, I suggest narrowing the area in  question down and really digging into what you want and what kind of  tenants you would like to have.

Best wishes to you.

Rhett Tullis · Answer

good market overall.  strong but not as strong as when oil was high.  still a good return just dont bank on appreciation, cash flow is the main play here save a few areas of town in okc.

Jeff Filali · Answer

I own 13 properties in Oklahoma as I live here.  Great market, but just like anywhere, there's good and bad.  My suggestion would be connect with someone local and experienced, who may be able to help you locate turnkey properties already rehabbed, occupied and with property manager.  The play here is definitely cash flow, not appreciation because the markets that do appreciate the most here, still are no where near the appreciation on west coast markets, most the better ones are around 4-5% per year, but the cash flow numbers in the best of the best neighborhoods isn't as good as the B/C blue collar, and section 8 properties.  Its pretty easy to find good 1.5% or better rental ratios here in the B/C areas.  In the AA areas, you're lucky to even hit 1%.  The rule here is live in the AA communities but invest in the B/C pockets, or sometimes you get lucky on a property that needs a lot of rehab first.

Jeff Filali · Answer

@Erin Elam There's not B/C areas in Broken Arrow really.  Its almost all AA, A, or a few B.  But in Tulsa and some of the surrounding suburbs there are good pockets of blue collar B/C, C/D areas for sure where you can find good deals.  It only took me 2 1/2 years.  Working on a deal now to acquire 10 more properties, and plan to transition into only acquiring multis to hold in 2019, but may still flip some SFRs.

Conor Funk · Answer

Cynthia,

Please take this with a grain of salt as I can't personally say that I own property there or have done much research, but at a meet-up I attended yesterday here in Colorado, a gentleman I spoke with bought and flipped a house there for a long-term investment as his first deal just a few months ago and it's going well for him. Like anything, once you're comfortable with running your numbers and have done your due diligence to acquire as much information pertaining to the market from the professionals there, I'm sure it'll be feasible!

If you haven't, I strongly recommend reading and implementing the strategies that David Greene's book "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" lays out very thoroughly . He's gifted us with a wonderful format that, if you put enough time in, will pay unbelievable, but more importantly, comfortable dividends.

Best of luck and hope this helps you in one way or another!

Erin Elam · Answer

Hi Jeff, I'm interested in what areas would be considered B/C around Tulsa and Broken Arrow? How long did it take you to get to your 13 properties in OK?

Cynthia Miller · Answer

Thanks for all the responses. Seems like a good place buy.

Are there any neighborhoods.that are war zones and I should stay away from?

I've seen some listings out in shawnee. I see it's outside the city but an easy commute. Is there rental demand there or other locations outside the city?

Jonathan James Look · Answer

I've only got my first SFR property with a Section 8 tenant in Del City just a couple months ago. I primarily invested for cash flow, not appreciation. I used a turnkey provider, who provided various overviews of a dozen+ markets, and OKC had one of the higher cap rates (however, you do pay an insurance premium to cover for wind and hail).

Economy wise, things looked fairly good, and as far as I can tell, OKC has been doing much to attractive businesses for their economy and it looks to have done well.

Oklahoma City and Tulsa Rental Market Good?

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