All Forum Posts by: Puja Devi

Hi Puja, welcome to BP. I can only speak about Baltimore, that it is a strong cash-flowing market, but somewhat risky if you've never stepped foot in Baltimore. You would need a really excellent team to overcome that obstacle. 

If I were deciding between those 4 markets, I'd add those four words to my keywords at BiggerPockets and see what people are saying over the next couple of weeks. Each one has it's pros and cons. Pair down the list. If you really can't decide, you should overcome the analysis paralysis by just picking one - pick out of a hat if you need to. You can make Real Estate investing work in almost any market. Good luck =)

@Puja Devi, in the current real estate market, strong cash flow means more risk, so you need to balance that.  When investing, you are either going to need to trust your team's opinion or do your own research.

The questions I always asked myself when investing, which I think would be good to ask a team in any market: are you comfortable going to the property at 2am?  Would you send your spouse or children (assuming the children are old enough) there in the dark?  Would you live there if need be?

When I look at rougher neighborhoods, I factor in more vacancy, higher turn over costs, and often times these properties in my market are older and have a higher Capex budget. All told, the cash flow is higher for the additional risk, but not what I would call significantly higher when accounting for these reserves.

@Puja Devi

You want to invest 50k total or you have 50k cash and you want to get a loan

50k for a dublex could be a money maker, also could be a biggest mistake.

You will be in a pretty rough area.

You will have to rent it by gut feeling rather than metrics.

2nd one has many other options.