How many people are clustering as part of their REI strategy?

[Jonathan Greene]

This has been my go-to this year for smart investing and it's a strategy not a lot of people talk about. Clustering can be done on your own or with your friends (or other investors) and it can have huge ancillary and strategical benefits as part of an overall investment strategy or portfolio.

On your own, you would cluster by buying properties very close to one another. This is obviously something people have been doing for years, but the benefits can be more than you might expect. If you buy two similar homes on one block and flip one (to get the highest sale price) and BRRRR the other, you just did your own work giving yourself the best appraised property which will help you complete your BRRRR at the highest level. You can also do it this way with your friends and other investors in an area and it helps when some are flipping and some are holding just for this reason.

Have you ever used clustering as a strategy? @Ryan Goldfarb and @John Errico are doing it in Atlantic City with great results. @Krithika Nichin is doing with properties across the street from each other in Philly. @Daniel Klein and I own properties next door to each other in Montclair. If you know what you are doing and doing it at scale, you can actually pay up (within reason) for properties that will help you increase the appraisals on existing properties. These are ancillary benefits that are available when clustering.

Thoughts or questions?

[Al Diaz]

I think that clustering is the way to go. It affords you the opportunity to use your own deals as verifiable comps to raise the value of your next deal. I am already working on my neighbor at my Philly flip, building the relationship in the hopes he will sell.