@Lillian Pintaro,Birmingham’s a lucrative market—it’s been my stomping ground for nearly 20 years, and you can find some excellent deals if you know what you’re after and dive deep by zip code, neighborhood, and city block.For what it’s worth, we manage 2,000+ units (many for out-of-state investors) mostly in the north and west part of town—so think suburbs outside the city limits like Graysville (35073), Adamsville (35005), Mount Olive (35117), Center Point (35215), and the like.Since you’re also open to the surrounding areas, places like Odenville (to the east) and Tuscaloosa (to the southwest) could be worth checking out.

Build a solid foundation before taking a step up - each and every step of the way.There’s a way to scale recklessly and there is a way to scale safely.When OPM is involved safe is way better than reckless.Despite a life long career in RE, I scaled as followsBought a few duplexes for my own accountBought a fourplex for my own accountBought 12 units as a JV with some friendsSyndicated 43 unitsSyndicated 30 unitsBought another 12 units as a JVSyndicated 281 unitsThis was over a 3 or 4 year period.and so forth - now I am GP in close to 1000 units with $125M AUM.Even with all that, my sweet spot is 30 to 50 unit properties - they work best for my partners and I and more importantly our investors. 

If have investment property, we are looking for relatively updated units (we are ok doing some work ourselves), class C+/B tenants, with rents either close to market rate or that can be increased.

I've been doing that strategy in Ohio to scale, but you need to live in one of the units. 

The good news is that there are plenty of investors who would be interested in the property as-is and even more investors interested if:- The property is in an area they are familiar with- The property is in a desirable area- You are deep into the eviction process (it seems as though you are)- You can deliver 1 unit/floor vacant (this could happen before closing)That said, if you can keep it, I'd say do it.

Investment Info:Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Whether that's through house hacking or just another set of units I hold, I plan to purchase again this year. if there are tips on how to build a trusted network of people on here, I would welcome that.

This criteria is for 1-4 and 5-8 unit programs.

We are looking to get into small multifamily (12-20 units ) once the sell is final (speaking it into existence!

We specialize in new construction SFHs and small multi unit buildings in Chicago.