Avoiding Shiny-Market Syndrome

It is easy to get shiny-object syndrome when diving into real estate investing. From residential properties to self-storage to mobile home parks, how is one to choose! The same logic applies to markets - it is easy to get shiny-market syndrome. When first starting your real estate investing journey, you’ll hear about how every market is the best. One Bigger Pockets podcast guest may say that “Kansas City offers great cash flow,” another may claim that “Texas properties appreciate the fastest,” while a Bigger Pockets advertisement may reason that “property taxes are so low in Kentucky,” and on and on. When I first started my real estate investing journey, I was wrestling with all of these, and other, markets. Compiling as much research as I could on cash-flowing markets and composing my own charts to compare dozens of markets.

While picking a solid market is, of course, important, perhaps more important is actually making the decision.

Once I made the decision that I was concentrating on the Indianapolis MSA, my investing journey accelerated. From there, I dove in to all things local. If you have a busy W2 career like me, you know that your return on time is super important. I would listen to the Indy Investor Pod before the Bigger Pockets podcast. I became active in local real estate investing groups. I started networking with local agents, wholesalers, and property managers. In short, I was spending my time more intentionally and obtaining a higher return on time. And that made all the difference.

While all relationships are valuable and all knowledge is powerful, I learned that obtaining an in-depth knowledge of my market was invaluable. Based on my interactions with local professionals and fellow investors, my understanding of the Indy area improved beyond “avoid the 46218 zip code.” I also had helpful resources to turn to as specific questions arose (and make no mistake, the Indy investor community is the best out there).

Most importantly, instead of simply surfing real estate forums, I dedicated my time to vetting and forming my team on the ground and building my relationships in and around Indianapolis. With this added knowledge in tow, and a team by my side, we were able to start closing on properties.

As many will say, there isn’t one “best” market and you can have success in most markets. It comes down to building your team, building your systems, execution, and, ultimately, putting in the work.  

When starting your real estate journey, one of the most important things to do is to pick a market (and then dive in!) rather than spending tons of time picking the “best” market. Do so, redirect your time, and reap the rewards!