All Forum Posts by: Brian J Allen

For all on this forum, Keep in mind that as a licensed real estate agent it is not allowed to tell people what neighborhoods are good or bad. It is also illegal to categorize one neighborhood as containing a certain type of people. We are only allowed to point out geographical positives and negatives.  Hills, small lots, lack of parking, traffic choke points if you are trying to get to one location from another, and similar attributes.  That being said, the closer you are to job centers the better your prospects for renting are.  Traffic and hills are the biggest determiners of what a good location is.  Find a local real estate agent and go for a ride for a couple hours and have them show you how traffic works in the city and where the jobs are along with the major bus routes.  Once you see this, you will understand the city.  LOCAL is the key.

I wanted to give a public thank you and a shout out to 

AMEN

 Jared,

PM me, there are a lot of different levels and aspects of property management in Worcester.  There are people who charge a percentage, people who charge by the door.  Full Service, Full service-lite, lite service and there are prices for all of them.  My clients bought about 40 small multis last year and I think they are using 6 different property management services for various reasons.  It is great that you are looking for suggestions.  Sadly it is not a simple answer.

Brian- WorcesterMulti

I am a Realtor and Multifamily specialist in Worcester, MA.  I am looking to buy a place so I can visit family in the area. I need an investment minded agent, who knows the area well, and can work with me remotely.  I will come down a couple times a year to stay and would like to be able to rent the place out.  Not sure if I should have a condo, house or multifamily.  Open to all so I need an agent who can navigate this for me.

Anyone know someone like this who works that area?

THANK your attorney for going with the U&O instead of a lease.  This way if something breaks it is on them to fix and they have no tenant rights!

Essentially they will pay if they occupy and not pay if they don't.  Welcome to Worcester.  Give me a shout if I can help locally in any way.

Brian

Ironically I sold my investment property in Tempe, AZ last year and invested in Worcester, MA which is where I work as an agent.  Worcester made the list here as well and I agree with their assessment.  Prices have started to come down and there are less investors searching.  But as Mark Twain said.  "There are lies, damned lies and statistics".

You need to be a value investor and a House Picker.  Not just hoping that all properties will go up in price.

Here is my BP blog where I go into this further, and access to other items in my blog about Worcester Multifamily housing.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

@Daniel Palmer, pretty good summary of Worcester. The difficulty is that places near WPI and Newton square are essentially bought with Cash. I had 3 buyers purchase WPI properties in the last 6 months, 2 were off market so we had some opportunities, but 2 were all cash no conditions, and as you say, they won't make money for years. Newton Square or Worcester State is harder as there are so few multis and most are 2 families so they don't even come up for sale. Renting at Clark can make you money, but the rents at Clark are similar to normal rents within the city. Just make sure that you have a Realtor that focuses on Multi-Family as we get all the good deals prior to them hitting the market. I figure I know about 25% of the properties prior to they hitting the MLS, so my buyers are ready! Worcester is a great City to invest in, but you really need to know your neighborhoods. AND MOST IMPORTANT YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE TRAFFIC WORKS!!!!!!!! THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN WORCESTER-THE LAST MILE- THAT IS WHY AMAZON IS BUILDING 2 DISTRIBUTION FACILITIES

@James Roche @Jason Regan As another agent working exclusively with investors in WORCESTER, MA only I see the deals are few and far between.  Yes there are deals in every area, but they are slimmer in Worcester then any time prior.  

I feel that the BRRR my have run out with interest rates rising so it is hard to get your money back.

I see a big push right now with people trying to buy things that are on the market in advance of even further pull back in Supply.

Those people who typically want to trade up are simply holding their assets because it is becoming more expensive to replace those properties due to the run up in Rates.

Keep in mind rates are still historically low, but investors are very price sensitive.  They will search for new projects, but often will not release the ones they already have.

Thanks Chris for the shout out! We will find you another one!