Crime increasing Sell or keep

[Brian Angone]

Hello all, thank you in advance for your opinions.  we own two duplexes and a single family home in Hopewell Virginia.  We cash flow $1100 per month of each duplex and $650 per month of the single home.  The two duplexes are located side-by-side. We’ve had great success there but recently crime has started to uptick.  Over the last 96 hours there were seven shootings and four murders.  Before all of this it’s a pretty quiet place for the most part. I had two tenants informed me that they would like to move out because of the shootings which I totally understand.  The big question is should we keep these duplexes or sell them and go to a different area? I personally would like to keep them because we got such a good deal on them and they are doing well. I’m hoping that the local police departments will be able to take care of this matter but I would like to get other peoples opinions. Thank you again for your time.

This area is located 30 minutes from Richmond Virginia. The housing market has been going pretty crazy so most people in this area are having trouble finding a place to rent. We are seeing a huge segment of the population moving south towards this area because of the rent in the surrounding areas are so much.

[James Basile]

I typically always advice against panic-selling any investment asset. Especially assets that are cash flowing! 

In Philly we've seen a huge uptick in crime in the last 2 years. Some neighborhoods in the city vary block by block whether it is considered a "good" or "bad" location but doesn't necessarily determine whether or not an investment property has value. I'm not familiar with the Virginia market but I would advise you to keep an eye on overall trends to determine whether to keep or sell rather than a 96 hour window that may be a random occurrence. 

If you anticipate this will be a trend that will effect rent, appreciation, vacancy, etc, and you think it would be beneficial to swap out/diversify your assets, it might be in your best interest to move your investment into a different area. 1031 Exchange is a great tool for swapping out investment properties while deferring capital gains tax. I would look into that if you are planning on moving your portfolio to a different area.