All Forum Posts by: Thuy Tran

Eric, your post is so valuable. I'm going to save it for my own market research. As a data nerd myself, here are some other data I also look at.

- Job growth and Unemployment rate trends: BLS.gov (can be drilled down to city level)

- Median listing price per sqft with trends: FRED

- Owner-occupied housing unit rate: I didn't know this existed but it's an interesting metric to look at. If a city has high owner-occupied rate, the demand for rentals might be low? Census
- Census has some other population metrics like median household income.

Hi Kathy,

I also use BOL website but I found that you can click on a state and drill down to the city/ metro area to see all the historical data.

Here is the starting page: https://www.bls.gov/regions/home.htm

Here is the page for RVA as an example : https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic/va_richmond_msa.htm

Hi, it's my first post in the forum after 2 months of intensive reading, learning, listening on BiggerPockets!

I'm new to real estate investment, though my partner and I did try to purchase a house during Covid in San Francisco. Kinda glad it didn't go through. Now we live in a van and traveling across the US :)

Even though I've never lived in Richmond, I did some research and have come to the conclusion that Richmond, VA might be the right market for me:

- Population is growing

- VCU provides renters (students or faculty)

- Somewhat affordable (for me). Rent-to-price ratio is higher than some other markets.

- Low crime rate

- I've been there and enjoyed the city. Some parts of it are fun and beautiful.

Would like to hear your opinions on Richmond VA as the market for REI, whether you're a local or not. If you have comments on Virginia Beach, VA? Why is it not a recommended market compared to Cleveland or Columbus, OH?

Thank you!