All Forum Posts by: Holly Ross

Holly, great summary of the markets that you are looking into. In my opinion, hometown advantage is huge when it comes to investing especially for your first investment property. There is a lot of upfront work that comes with setting up an MTR that is much easier to do as a local if you are boot strapping it and doing all or most of the work yourself. Once you have gone through the process once, it is much easier to repeat and set up a rental in any city that you would like.

In my opinion, I think that everyone should try managing their own property in the beginning to learn and understand property management. Even if you have a property manager in the future, the manager still needs to be managed and its helpful to have experience. Managing locally is a lot easier than having to travel to anther city.

Hope this helps!

Makes sense, really good advice! I can use Buffalo as my template before replicating in Columbus. I was definitely thinking about it too linearly, as thought it's an unpivot-able decision.

I'd love to add you to my list of investor-friendly agents to reach out to as I set up my local team if you think you'll have bandwidth this year!

1 Vote

Hi all. I live in Buffalo, NY and am closing on my first home this week. It'll be my primary for a bit, but I intend to turn it into an MTR when I move on to a new place.

I plan to buy my first investment property in 2024 (for MTR, LTR as backup), and I'm stuck between three markets at this point in my analysis. I'm almost wondering if it's an arbitrary decision – like maybe I should just choose one and get to work and the exact place doesn't matter... But thought I'd ask here in case anyone has some opinions or experience on the specifics.

A) Buffalo, NY – 0.61% price to rent. hometown advantage, lots of connections, familiar with good and bad areas. I'm priced out of the hot areas, but occasionally there will be a fixer or full gut job for ~100k if you act fast with cash. Or there are less desirable areas that may appreciate in a few years where homes are consistently ~100k.

B) Rochester, NY – 0.79% price to rent. Next city over (~1 hour drive). Less familiar with the area but close enough that I could take some trips. Seems to come up pretty consistently in real estate investing content I read / listen to. Median price is less than Buffalo, so I assume I could still find some good fixers occasionally for ~100k?

C) Columbus, OH – 0.72% price to rent. Wildcard, but seems like this is slated to become a major hub within the next few years so appreciation could be great, plus several level 1 hospitals in the city. On paper this seems like the best place to get in early, but I just feel like I know very little about it comparatively.

Worth noting: I know hometown advantage is huge, and I am weighing that but I'm ultimately not afraid to do the work to set up a team elsewhere. Even if that means moving there for a few months or visiting frequently... So though it's an advantage, I wouldn't say it should be the deciding factor.

Anyone have any advice? Am I just in analysis paralysis and need to make ANY move? Thanks!

5 Votes

All Forum Posts by: Holly Ross

Holly Ross has started 5 posts and replied 12 times.

Post: Any thoughts between these markets? New to REI and could use some advice.

Post: Any thoughts between these markets? New to REI and could use some advice.