All Forum Posts by: Michael S.

@Lindsay Davis - always enjoy a good dialogue about local real estate.

I see zero movement to the north - Meridianville and Hazel Green are already priced at the top of the market, and I think they are due for a correction.  Simply put, the jobs coming to the area are not to the north side of the city. 

I agree with the growth to the west - but not toward Decatur.  I think Athens isn't done growing, and there is a lot of vacant land still in Limestone county.  

South Huntsville is where the money is going right now - the area near Grissom High in particular is seeing crazy amounts of building and growth.  I think it will eventually extend all the way to Ditto landing, as there is a lot of land available there.  

Decatur growth has been trivial compared to the rest of the area - I still think Decatur is a cash flow only play, as I don't see people moving to the area for jobs in Huntsville or Madison metro living in Decatur.  

@Emmanuel Sanchez - we don't invest in either location for the following reasons:

Decatur - slowest growing area in North Alabama over the past 10 years in my humble opinion.  Zero appreciation potential in the immediate present - if you invest there, must be a home run cash flow play.  Cash flow should be obtainable in Decatur, but you'll need to be low B / high C area.  

Meridianville/Hazel Green - overpriced.  No industry growth in that direction.  Zero appreciation potential at current prices obviously.  New builds won't cash flow without at least 30 to 40 percent down.

Just my opinion on the current situation. 

Be careful who's opinion you take in this regard - I have nothing to sell you.  

@Remington Lyman - great topic. For those of us that do REI as more of a side hustle (essentially anyone with a non-REI W2 like me), the forums have become a waste of time as well.

Most of the posts are either spam, people with no money asking for help buying an apartment building, people whose feelings get hurt if you provide constructive criticism of their plan, or people talking out their rear ends.  

I typically do a routine daily search under "Huntsville" to see if there is any interesting discussion from local investors.  Here's the typical topics I see under Huntsville:

1.  I have no money - where should I look for a house in Huntsville?

2.  The market is great in Huntsville - contact me.

3.  I am a turn key operator - please contact me about opportunities in Huntsville even though I have zero properties currently listed on my website for North Alabama

4.  I live in (insert state here) - you can cash flow in Huntsville no problem!  No, I have never set foot in Alabama, and don't know what fried okra is.

I always ask the poster to tell me about some of their recent property acquisitions they have done here in Huntsville - and get crickets.  

Maybe I should start asking if they like fried okra?  AI may assume it tastes like chicken...

@Michael Ewers - totally agree.  It amazes me how many posters feel some sort of need to comment on the Huntsville market when they know nothing about it.  

There is a thread on here where two individuals make statements about how great the market in Huntsville was for investing right now.  

I tagged both of them in a comment, congratulated them on their success here, and asked them to share about their properties and performance here.  

Crickets.  

It seems like everyone who has never invested or even stepped foot in North Alabama has an "informed" opinion on the market here.  

@Michael Ewers - market here is very strange right now for both sales and rentals.

What we've seen with sales is either a property sells within one week with multiple offers, or it sits on the market for 3 to 6 months.

Rentals have been similar - they either lease within 2 weeks, or sit for 4 to 6 weeks and sometimes are requiring a price reduction to get them moved.  Our turnover / vacancy rates have been higher in the past 6 months as well.  

Overall, supply is currently higher than demand in my opinion.  

"New Construction as Relief: Homebuilding will play a key role in keeping pace with growth—new builds have already been the backbone of Huntsville’s housing ecosystem"

Where do they think these new builds are going to go?  Further south of Grissom High?  Lowe Mill?  Ditto Landing?  High end MFH is already overbuilt downtown.

Huntsville was a "sleeper pick" prior to 2019.  If anything, the market here remains overheated and tough to find deals.

@Austin Fowler - I bought my first out of state STR with a business partner in November of last year. It's been performing so well that we agreed to watch for the next opportunity, which presented itself last month - we haven't finished getting it ready yet, but we should have it active by next month. Might consider a third STR in this location in 2026 as well.

So we are not systematically buying STRs - but if the right opportunity shows up, we will pursue it.  

@Matt Thelen - that's exactly why we are willing to pay for quality property management.  

Only two of our properties are self-managed.  

All the rest have property management in place, and all tenant placements for these were performed by the property managers.

@Matt Thelen - we actually received 100% of rent on time this month.  

Not seeing or hearing any issues in Huntsville / Madison like this from property managers or property owners I know right now either.