Where to now honey?

Question

My wife and I are fairly new to investing. I have been flipping homes for others off and on for the past 7 years in Salt Lake City, that has gone well and I have learned a lot we just sold our last flip and we will come out of it debt free and with $20,000 to put forward to our next project. I would like to move away from flips and into brrr-ing. I am a contractor and I feel like I can find plenty of work anywhere in the country so we are very open to moving. Especially because we feel the market in salt lake is just too high for us to buy into.

My question is, where in the country should we move? We have been referred to St. Louis MO, Boise ID, Atlanta GA, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Houston. Of all of these in doing some small research I am leaning toward St. Louis but I have heard some negative things about it as well. Where should we go? Any other places that should be on the list?

Additional info: I am not very spooked by the idea of less desirable neighborhoods, I feel like a good property manager can resolve most of those concerns.

Matthew McNeil · Answer

The Boise/Meridian area is the fastest growing housing market in the US, and cash is king.

https://www.idahohousing.com/blog/boise-housing-ma...

https://www.weknowboise.com/blog/real-estate-marke...

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article2...

Michael Rose · Answer

I'm from Tulsa, did my undergrad in Oklahoma City (OU), and canvassed both as a political consultant. Both are good enough towns; no real housing booms, but not astronomical either.

North Tulsa (north of the brady arts district, within the Booker T school distric) and South OKC (bordering the river) are historically rougher, South Tulsa and North OKC are historically more affluent. (There is an extremely racist history that led to why this is).

In Tulsa, look at Bixby and Jenks school districts. In OKC, Moore Bethany and Warr Acres might be good to look. I didn't do much research on prices, but those are where I would look, having spent 22 years there.

Dustin Davis · Answer

@Matthew McNeil and @Ryan Petersen , not to take us off topic but is Boise that hot??? You can't find anything under $100K off market that a bank will loan on?  That's incredible! Gold in the ground? What's driving things up there?

@James Mann Jonesboro may still be getting those loans but when rates went up here the 0% down stopped. We can get 15% of purchase down with repairs up to 85% of ARV all day everywhere but the 5 year lock is starting to disappear as well.

@Harrison Custer shoot me a PM with your number. Let's chat a bit, there's lots of opportunity down our way and I'll guarantee you'll love the area, it's a hidden gem.

James Mann · Answer

What a few investors are doing here in the Jonesboro area is getting properties with a "subject to appraisal" and are able to purchase homes with no money down as long as they are able to put up a form of collateral. Basically we look at not great condition homes that are under priced to sell in areas that have high comps and then you tell the appraisal all the repairs that you plan to make and they will do a subject to appraisal after repairs are completed. The bank then loans you 80% of the final amount and you are able to use that to make the necessary repairs. A lot of investors have been having success using this method. When we are able to help them find a good house it's great! If you are more comfortable with just putting the 10- 20% down for a Conventional loan and looking for a more "turn key" style property where you don't have to make significant repairs there are still a lot of great high cash flowing (250+ a month per door) readily available for purchase. I'd be happy to help you look for anything if interested.

James Mann · Answer

Same for North East Arkansas (Jonesboro, Paragould) there is tons of growth in this area as well!

Dustin Davis · Answer

@Harrison Custer check into Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville, Bentonville, Springdale, Rogers)... Housing boom and not slowing much. We are starving for decent rehab contractors with reasonable rates. All the decent guys have jumped on the new construction as it's easier money. If you decide to land here, let me know, we've got enough going to keep you busy enough and are more than willing to share in the wealth with the right partner.

Ryan Petersen · Answer

The Boise, ID market has been booming and had solid growth. People love living here and there are so many people moving here that the demand for housing cannot keep up with the rate of growth currently. I know contractors are so busy and doing so much work. Regardless of the growth there are so many great reasons to live here and doing a simple google search of top places in the country to live will show you Boise Idaho in the top of most lists.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthasharf/2018/02...

Check out this article. It may help. Good luck with your decision and if you need anything or any info on the area feel free to reach out.

Brandon Miller · Answer

@Harrison Custer

Would strongly consider the I-35 corridor (Austin to San Antonio). The way things are headed, San Antonio and Austin will be one big stretch of city before long. Towns such as New Braunfels, San Marcos, and Kyle/Buda are towns along I-35 between the two large cities to look into. Entry point in Austin is getting pretty high. San Antonio is proving to be a strong and growing market with massive amounts of appreciation in the downtown area.

Jarrod Covey · Answer

@Harrison Custer - the growth between Austin and San Antonio definitely warrants some consideration in this move!

Harrison Custer · Answer

I have never looked into the Arkansas market, I will do so right now. thank you for the tip Dustin!

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