All Forum Posts by: Dustin Griesing

The Quant maps post is interesting and I'd like to see similar data compared to a statewide or regional baseline. 

I may be a fool, but I think your data visualizations tell the opposite story of the text which was typed out. 

-Rents have increased since 2015

-SNAP/Food Stamps percentage down since 2015

-Percent poverty has decreased since 2015

-Percent college educated has increased since 2015

Is this one of those times you're supposed to keep quiet so other people don't start to find out this might be a good place to invest?

Christian, I'm just starting to get active on here to see how this goes. I feel like I'm uniquely qualified to answer this question. 

I was born and raised about 15 miles from Bay City and it's a shell of what it used to be due to the loss of manufacturing jobs. The comments regarding declining population are certainly true. With that said, it's been on an upswing in my opinion. Lots of new money going in near the downtown and lots of clean up and new construction on the river front. It's not all doom and gloom.  

I've been working as a property manager for some friends who invested in Bay City but live outside of the 50 mile radius the city requires to self manage.  The biggest point of advice I'd give is to make sure you have a good handle on what needs to be replaced on any listing. Lots of old buildings and we have been taking over buildings that were run by slumlords, neglecting any proper maintenance. 

i also live in Midland and own my own units. You certainly get a different class of tenant, but with a purchase price that doesn't immediately draw a higher monthly rent compared to Bay City.  A lot of properties will cash flow in Midland, but you're looking at 2% of purchase price in rents in Midland vs 3% in Bay City.  

Midland will be lower hassle, more predictable with a better class of tenant. Bay City will likely provide better cash flow for lower up front costs.   Weigh your own pros and cons. People are making money in both cities.