Hey man,
Yeah, I would love to do all my investing up here because of the proximity to my home but it just isn't realistic for long-term gains as well as the capital you need to bring in incase of any major repair issues.
I have one quadplex, 3 duplexes, and a very small single family home down in Caldwell County. They are all different than what you woul generally expect to get up here. They are lower income folks. While this can some with some drama from time to time (with the Multi-family tenants) and other types of small issues, the return has been fantastic. Though, these are also older buildings. So, for instance, in the quadplex we had a major plumbing failure at about 3am one night in an upper unit. It wasn't noticed until about 7 am that morning and at that point had pretty much destroyed a portion of the unit under it. That ended up being about a $15,000 repair, all said and done. But that could happen in any type of multifamily with upper and lower units. Was just an old galvanized pipe that blew. The lady downstairs has to take sleeping med to sleep, like many people do, and just didn't hear it because it was on the other end of her apartment. My point in saying that is that it is so so very important to have a decent chunk of capital set aside for major situations (what BP people like the call Cap Ex).
I bought these properties for a total of $205,000 between then all and they pull in about $7,000 per month in rent... so that far exceeds the 1% rule... it's closer to 3%. So, the ROI on this specific group of properties is fantastic. I haven't really used much of that for myself as I was running two kitchens in the area at the same time for a while and my fiance is a nurse. We have been slowly remodeling units that become empty.
Just know that in places like Wilkes County and Caldwell County you may end up with a much different type of tenant than you are prepared for, compared to up here. Like I said, mine are all low-income. Only two of the eleven actually work. The rest collect a check each month... but there is some security in that for us as landlords. Not late rent or non-payment because of lack of work. They get their check each month no matter what. But, also with this type of tenant can come more drama. I had a period of time where I had one of the "adopted" tenants from when we purchased... and she and her boyfriend were beyond awful. I did what I had seen others do on here. Offered them a small sum of cash to be out by a certain time. I did tell them that if they werent' out by then that I would start the eviction process. Well, they were out in time and I paid them.
Mainly, investing down the mountain, in either of those counties can make you a good return. They both have huge rental markets. Caldwell county regularly has waiting lists at all the property management firms. But you just have to understand that you may be dealing with a different level of tenant and you have to be willing to handle that burden. My tenants are good people... just a pain to deal with at times. Have one that has gotten bed bugs for the third time. So I have to figure out how to make him understand that it is now HIS turn to start paying for the exterminator when this happens since he hasn't been cleaner like he was supposed to. Stuff like that.
Also, I'd still rather rent to these folks over ASU college students any day of the week. I've heard so many awful stories about renting to college students. I just have no interest and a lot of professionals are moving out of the county towards Ashe County, or the edges of both Wilkes and Caldwell counties because it is just way too packed up here with ASU expanding every year.
Sorry for the long post. Ask away if you have anymore questions.
