Buy and hold Grove City, Ohio and surrounding area

[Ida Powers]

Hi All, 

I wanted to get some advice and bounce some ideas off of you. I currently live in Grove City because I commute to my job to Wilmington, Ohio. I own and rent a house in Raleigh, NC. Originally bought that to live in and rented it out to friends to move closer to family in Columbus, Ohio. Tenants are great and my house has already appreciated a decent amount!  I am considering buy a house in the Grove City area to live in for a couple years and then rent out. I'm currently paying $1130 in rent a month and I have money for a down payment and then some.  My only hesitation is that I want to move out west in 2-3 years. In your opinion, is it worth wasting money on rent if I have the capital to buy a house right now? How difficult would it be to manage the property with a property manager from afar? My family does live here in Columbus so I will be back a few times a year to check on things but I wouldn't want to burden them with managing my property unless is was absolutely needed. 

Thank you in advance! I really appreciate any advice or insight you can give me!

[Robert Ellis]

Originally posted by @Ida Powers:

Hi All, 

I wanted to get some advice and bounce some ideas off of you. I currently live in Grove City because I commute to my job to Wilmington, Ohio. I own and rent a house in Raleigh, NC. Originally bought that to live in and rented it out to friends to move closer to family in Columbus, Ohio. Tenants are great and my house has already appreciated a decent amount!  I am considering buy a house in the Grove City area to live in for a couple years and then rent out. I'm currently paying $1130 in rent a month and I have money for a down payment and then some.  My only hesitation is that I want to move out west in 2-3 years. In your opinion, is it worth wasting money on rent if I have the capital to buy a house right now? How difficult would it be to manage the property with a property manager from afar? My family does live here in Columbus so I will be back a few times a year to check on things but I wouldn't want to burden them with managing my property unless is was absolutely needed. 

Thank you in advance! I really appreciate any advice or insight you can give me!

 I would encourage you to purchase the home. The average home in Grove City is around $170k this year and for that amount in rent you could easily be getting equity every year. Plus grove city in my personal opinion is one of the best areas to invest in single or multifamily. We just listed 14 units there and have had a lot of interest. My mechanic just bought a house there and one my friend's who's a teacher. Not to mention Grove City has the highest number of transactions per zip code in all of Central Ohio. I think it was Ohio Health or Mount Carmel that just moved several hundred jobs out there as well. Really solid place to buy a single or multifamily property.