Milwaukee Multifamily Investing

[Evelyn V.]

Hello!

I am from Lake County Illinois and have been looking for a multifamily (2-4 units) to get started with for my investing journey. There has not been much inventory in my area, and I've also looked at Kenosha County as well.
I'm considering Milwaukee as there are a lot more homes I'm seeing that fit my criteria, as I work in Wisconsin anyways. I am looking in the $100k-$200k range where value can be added like cosmetic fixes, but no major rehabbing.
Looking to chat with others in this market to get an idea of some good areas, and see if anyone has any referrals for agents.

Thanks!

[Marcus Auerbach]

Milwaukee has been one of the most competitive markets in the US over the last few months (measured in list price to sold price ratio) and the days where you could get a quality duplex for under 200k are gone. You can get a good idea when you look at DOM (days on market) and pay attention to what price points sit for months and what price points sell in a couple days.

A lot of MSAs have seen prices soften since rates have spiked last fall, which goes to show that low rates were partially responsible for the exuberance in price gains over the last few years. Milwaukee is bucking the trend and prices are pushing up despite high rates, which makes me wonder what is going to happen when rates start going below 6% again. We are still priced well below the national average and I don't see that last forever, especially with people working remote.

In March we have seen median prices go up 14.57% YoY, I am awaiting April data which should be out in a few days and suspect it will be even higher based on what we have seen in the market the last weeks. More monthly MKE market data.

The housing shortage also includes the rental market and we also have seen rents go up, especially for properties in nice condition and most MF are still cash flow positive right out of the gate, even though much less than we have seen in the past, but it also seems that now we are adding appreciation to the ROI equation.