Ohio Market Still Good?

[Shiwei Qu]

Hello BP community,

Just out of curiosity, if everyone who consider out of state investing has been recommended Ohio market, are there still true opportunities or actually risks? I locate in Bay Area and also consider OOS investing. Thank you for your insight!

Thank you!

[Travis Biziorek]

You're going to get replies from a bunch of agents saying it's still amazing. That's probably not true.

How do I know? Because the market in Detroit (where I primarily invest) is getting increasingly tighter. And Detroit has been historically stronger than Ohio from a cash flow perspective.

@Kerlous Tadres mentioned he has some duplexes that will meet the 1% rule. That's great, but the 1% rule has been essentially meaningless in most markets with rates where they are. It's antiquated at this point and I'd be leery toward anyone pitching properties based on this metric.

Do deals still work? Perhaps, yes. But you need to really understand how to run your numbers, your cities property tax rules and how to calculate true future taxes (I see a lot of folks fail here), etc. 

Beyond all that, if you're simply looking to buy something with 25% down on the MLS you're really going to have a hard time in every market. Inventory is historically low so there's little to choose from. But without a value-add strategy you're simply not going to cash flow with that sort of strategy.