Are there any B or higher neighborhoods in Hartford, CT?

[Philip Pape]

Fellow CT investors, I'm in the market for a SFH for buy and hold investing (BRRRR strategy) but I don't have the risk tolerance for C or lower tenant neighborhoods.

My instinct is to stay out of Hartford (Connecticut), but I was wondering if there are any neighborhoods in Hartford proper (not suburbs) that are considered B or higher based on your experience as landlords, for single family properties.

Obviously there are locations on the West Hartford border, for example, that are solid, but the poor state of schools in Hartford negatively affects values, even on the same street. This would be a concern for future appreciation on top of any tenant quality concerns.

Thoughts?

[Jason Kushner]

Hi Phil,

I am not a seasoned investor by any means, but can weigh in on Hartford from an investment analysis perspective. I really have to stress the point that Mike brought up about the extreme mill rates in Hartford. I believe it is about 74.6. So for quick math purposes, ignoring cost of capital and time value of money, you will pay the taxable value of the property every ~13 years. Now, it is very possible there could be ways to neutralize this factor by finding properties with misaligned tax assessments, but I wouldn't necessarily consider that a viable strategy. 

Personally, if I were going to invest in a Hartford SFR, it would be more of a speculative play based off of the limited new construction projects that are being proposed. For example the new baseball stadium almost finished (maybe there will be some commercial construction in surrounding areas). If there was a way to track any proposed new construction projects (probably will not be too much residential with the tax rates), you may be able to make a speculative play for new neighborhoods where younger professionals working in downtown may consider living.

But as far as families and long-term tenants, I would agree that the poor quality of education generally found in the school systems and high tax rates preventing new residential construction make it very difficult.