Midwest Markets

[Corby Goade]

We have just started exploring investing in a few different cities in the midwest. Do you have buy and hold investments in any of the following metro areas?

-Kansas City

-Milwaukee

-Dayton, OH

-Macon, GA

What struggles do you have related to the market in that area? What is your vacancy rate? What is the quality of your tenants? What drives the economy in that area? What are rents like, relative to market value of your property? Are there neighborhoods that should be avoided altogether? Why?

I know there are many questions here, so don't feel obligated to answer everything. I am just trying to get the real feel for each market. If you invest in a different midwest market and are having a good experienece, please share! Thanks in advance. 

[Kiera Underwood]

I know you didn't ask about Oklahoma, but I couldn't help myself!

What struggles do you have related to the market in that area? - insurance rates are higher than other places and you have to replace roofs every 10 years instead of 30. So getting a deductible you're comfortable with spending every 10 years is important. 

What is your vacancy rate? 5%

 What is the quality of your tenants? Depends, the more important question is what is the quality of your property management and what's it look like to evict if tenants are bad. So, get a property management company that is hardline on late payments and that screens well. Evictions here are done in under a month and cost around $500.

What drives the economy in that area? It's diverse but mostly state employment, medical research, energy, a major air force base and boeing. Diverse vs not diverse is what you should look at. 

 What are rents like, relative to market value of your property? 1% rule or we don't sent it out to our buyers. 

Are there neighborhoods that should be avoided altogether? Why? There are a few that many investors would avoid, but you can often get great rates of return in those areas, so it's up to you what strategy you want to take. 

So since this was a few years ago. How'd becoming a CPA go and where'd you invest? How'd it turn out?