All Forum Posts by: Dana Hagans

For flips or BRRRRs, the best way to tell is with ARV comps. You should be able to find 3 or more homes that are similar to what yours will be after renovation and that have values supporting your "exit" value. These should be homes that have sold in the past 3-6 months and should be within 0.5-1.0 miles. Areas that are changing quickly or unevenly are typically best. For example, in Atlanta there are places where you'll find broken down ranch homes next door to million dollar new construction homes.

For a long term rental, take a slightly wider view of the area. What are the local schools like? How safe is the neighborhood? What's the quality of the local retail centers? Are there jobs nearby? Is it generally a desirable place to live?

For my area there's a few different ways to tell I am sure it'd apply to you too. For the City it depends on proximity to downtown and amenities. There is certain major HWY's/streets that are a good rule of thumb. For example if you are West of a HWY called 71 its good, East it starts declining. You can also tell by the crime rating(city crime is overall high so harder to tell in some parts). For suburbs school districts is one of the best to determine. The C areas here are rated 4 or 5 out of 10. B areas 6-7. A 8-10. Also the overall income of certain cities is helpful(certain sub markets outside the major metros doesn't really apply). Also crime ratings will give you an idea of the class of area. There's a lot of different metrics. I'd encourage to drive around and get a feel whether you are investing locally or not