Wyoming Rental Markets

[Jake Calobeer]

Hello, BP community,

New buy and hold investor here looking to learn some more about various rental markets in the state of wyoming. I currently reside outside of Salt Lake, Utah and recently finished and sold my first live in flip which generated some seed money for me to start investing in rental properties.

I have been doing research on Wyoming markets such as Rock Springs and Laramie, but am interested in other markets as well. I lived in Laramie for about two years from 2017 - 2019 for work and hope my work brings me back to this great state one day on a more permanent basis. 

What trends are you currently seeing in these markets and others in wyoming? Cap rates? Purchasing strategies? Vacancy rates? Rent price appreciation

Are there any pitfalls or other analysis strategies that may differ in wyoming from other markets to be aware of?

Economic development or job creating trends that aren’t widely being talked about? 

As with many areas of the country cities in Wyoming have experienced higher than normal home price appreciation. Do you feel that the economic opportunities in Wyoming, given the boom/bust nature of many communities in the state, can sustain the current appreciation? Or would these markets be more at risk of a larger slump than say a Denver or Salt Lake?

I look forward to contributing more on these forums as I begin this journey. 

[Jerry W.]

@Jake Calobeer, answering your question accurately would be more of a book than a post. Wyoming has a huge boom bust cycle I have seen play out many times in the past.  The Rock Springs Green River area has had the normal cycles following the price of oil, but add the coal mines, the power plants, the trona mines and the cycles get really weird and hard to predict.  Cheyenne is getting to be the tip of the front range of Colorado with the added benefit of government money from the Capital helping it through lean times and no state income tax.  Laramie is self explanatory as the only university in WY and the obvious fish bowl of renting to college students and the benefit of cultural opportunities found no where else in the state.  Rawlins?  The city of endless wind and cold, Casper the oil field support center of the state that always booms busts, and booms again.  

Overall Wyoming is in the middle of a massive influx of buyers and the problem is that it has nothing to do with oil, gas, or coal.  It defies all of our old basis for boom bust.  That means predicting how or when or if the boom will die off is almost impossible to say right now.  If I were to take a bunch of money and do a long term investment for the future I would probably hit the Gillette area.  Gillette was hammered by the drop in coal prices.  It had the most wealth generated of any County for many decades.  When oil died and climate change took ahold coal died and Gillette got cancer, the really bad kind.  Hundreds and hundreds of houses were up for foreclosure and you buy them for take over payments.  Massive multifamily buildings were everywhere.  Landlords were happy to get every other months rent.  Now it has some pretty areas, nice and well made homes and of course cheap poorly built house that are falling apart.  None of the areas in WY are booming because of great opportunity, it is simply the population shift from places with politics that folks hated, over pricing, bad crime, and all the other things people hated about the places where the weather was beautiful, but the politics were not.

Since the boom in Wyoming is not tied to the ability to get high paying jobs, I see no reason why it would end.  Gillette has not been bought up nearly as much as most of the other WY towns simply because it had so many unused houses to not be bought out in 6 months.  Sheridan and Buffalo real estate has shot up massively, Jackson went crazy many years ago with Billionaires pushing out the millionaires.  

I would pick out where you want to live in WY and start there, or pick where you want to invest in and move there.  You missed the golden time of the last year, but the party isn't over yet.  Buy warm clothes and coats and see how many houses you can buy 6 months after we get a cold snap where it hits -20 to minus 30 degrees and doesn't get above zero degrees for 3 or 4 weeks .  Lots of disgruntled folks from CA or TX will be moving back and selling cheap.

Just my thoughts, they are worth what you paid for them.  Good luck and feel free to buy me a cup of coffee and some pie if you pass through my area.