This is fantastic research, and I would mostly agree with both of you, but as an investor and commercial/investment real estate agent in Syracuse I can confirm that we have the good and bad that comes with a lot of the cities in New York outside of NYC. There are definitely rougher areas in the city itself, however mostly they can be a couple of blocks more than an entire zip code so it is good to have local eyes for a potential purchase.
While SU is a huge driver for the area, we have a lot of other economic drivers, including the two new Amazon facilities, but also newer companies such as TCGPlayer and Spincar, along with a multitude of new drone companies which are here for the expanding Tech Garden and the drone corridor which runs from Syracuse to Rome, NY.
Micron is not 10 years away, site work is actively underway and construction should begin later this year or beginning of next. I have been busy with out of state investors but also housing developers and supply companies coming into the area. This is a $100 billion project that has brought the President a couple of times already, as well as international interest in the area.
It seemed most of your great research was focused on the SU area only, but my biggest interest has been outside of those areas, especially north of the city. Rents for apartments and single family homes are up significantly, and I don’t see that trend ending any time soon: we are severely lacking in housing and available inventory. Also, SU has been building or buying up properties for students, which does cut into the student rental market. Almost independently from SU, Downtown Syracuse has been almost completely revitalized in the last 10 years, with waiting lists for rentals. I recently renovated a building downtown, and that investment paid off in spades. Our hospitals bring many people into the area, and we are going to see a tremendous increase in health care to take care of the 50,000 or more new residents that are projected to move here.
One thing to keep in mind, NYS is a very tenant friendly state. We are constantly having to deal with the state’s newest laws which almost always are a net negative to landlords, however we just deal with it (not much we can do), and are still able to have great investments as long as you understand and keep up with the tenant laws.
Please let me know if you have questions about the area. I have properties downtown and the surrounding area, and wish I had bought more!
