Best Market for First Investment Property

[Cindy Ni]

Hi All - I am looking to buy my first investment property and I have been researching markets. I am currently in between Charleston, SC and Huntsville, AL. My goal is mostly around cashflow (with high mortgage rates, even a modest amount is good) in an area with a good amount of appreciation as well. I know it depends more on the neighborhood I choose in the area, but would love to know from the more experienced crowd here which market has a higher probability of meeting my goal. 

Also, I am based out of Jersey City and would have preferred to buy a property closer to me, but the properties in this area are way out of my budget and do not seem to cashflow at all. I am a bit nervous about buying a property so far away, so would love to hear if anyone has advice on this. Thank you!

[Joe Hammel]

@Cindy Ni

You just can’t beat metro Detroit in my opinion. My personal portfolio here is made up of 19 doors cash flowing $90k+ a year (after all expenses and putting aside $200+ a door each month for vac, cap, maint)

I purchased from 2020-2022 almost entirely off the MLS.

Notice I said Metro Detroit and not just Detroit. These aren’t $15,000 houses. These are $100k houses that rent for $1300 a door and they just work. Light sweat equity. Great deals for a first time investor to buy, see how it goes, learn a lot, gain some confidence and then you can either change your strategy or buy more. What we end up seeing the most is they come back and want to buy another property that is as close to the first as possible.