Quote from @Ika Sargeant:
@Tom Cotter My office is based in Reston. I have attended a few investors meeting some helpful but others not so useful. One thing that
I would love to talk to people about is the cost of repairs in our area. Recently I was doing a update on a rental property that we own and had to meet with 7 contractors before I found one I used. The whole experience left me feeling like, its getting impossible to cashflow our area even after 2-3 years. We are are aware its hard to cashflow right of the back but I my calculation put 2-3 years and you could begin to see some cashflow. Now I think this goes even further out. I could be wrong but would love to here what other think.
Costs of repairs are still high for quality work. Having to meet 7 contractors is very time consuming, I hope you found one that you can use on your future projects.
I'd say cash flow in this area is impossible unless you're able to find an off market property, something with a lot of equity already in it or use some form of creative financing like "subject-to" or get good terms on seller financing, other than that the price to rent ratio in our area isn't favorable unless you're looking for appreciation. I have one rental in Gainesville that I was able to make work out with good cash flow, because I got it off market, all my other rentals are OOS. I feel like even down the line with rents going up and even if you're able to refinance to a lower rate, the cash flow still isn't there.
