4 ms·

I've been saying this for a couple of years, but if I were into real estate investing I'd pour money into rental properties in secondary and tertiary cities. I

by rm999 10y ago

I've been saying this for a couple of years, but if I were into real estate investing I'd pour money into rental properties in secondary and tertiary cities. I lived in Baltimore 10 years ago and was visiting last weekend. Neighborhoods that were effectively no-go zones back then (think of areas with shootouts in The Wire) are full of cafes and hipster shops now. 10 years ago you could get a house that sells for 400k today for under 150k. I predict that pretty much every city of a few 100 thousand people within a couple hours of a bigger metropolitan area is going to grow like this. I'm also very interested in the trend towards "micro" apartments in expensive cities. They will require code changes, but the idea is solid: make tiny but affordable housing for young single people. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-micro-apartments-article-1.2478722 http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-micro-apartments-art...

soylentcola 10y ago
Live and work in Baltimore now (been here around 10 years) and it's definitely a thing. Our main issue is that this "reinvestment" in the city is happening at a glacial pace--much slower than needed to address the seriously neglected and decayed infrastructure that's been piling up since the white-flight of the 50's and 60's. Still, the city's population is much lower than it was during the boom years of the 30's-50's so gentrification, while certainly spurring some conflict and debate, is nothing compared to a Manhattan or a San Francisco. Since much of the recent shifts have spread out from the redeveloped waterfront and Rt. 83 corridor, you still see huge differences in home prices over the space of, say, 10 blocks. Looking at mostly typical Baltimore townhomes renovated in the past 10 years, our house which cost $240k would've cost $350k if it had been maybe 10 blocks south in the more gentrified Canton neighborhood. And now, a few years on, new renovations on our block are being listed for those $300-400k prices. From a long term investment perspective, it would seem that values will be holding steady or rising in my immediate area but in bigger terms, I think it relates quite a bit to the overall topic of this thread. Younger people (and probably some not so young) are still interested in home ownership but can't (or won't) afford to pay DC prices or even the prices of surrounding suburbs. I truly hope (selfishly, as a Baltimore resident) that this signals a wider shift to reinvestment or just investment in smaller cities that may have seen major declines during the 60's-80's as those with means moved out to the new burbs. Living within a few miles of work is great and being able to walk or bike places is awesome. I don't know how much you'd need to pay me to get me on that hour-long highway commute from the suburbs every day.

by rm999 10y ago

soylentcola 10y ago

Live and work in Baltimore now (been here around 10 years) and it's definitely a thing. Our main issue is that this "reinvestment" in the city is happening at a glacial pace--much slower than needed to address the seriously neglected and decayed infrastructure that's been piling up since the white-flight of the 50's and 60's. Still, the city's population is much lower than it was during the boom years of the 30's-50's so gentrification, while certainly spurring some conflict and debate, is nothing compared to a Manhattan or a San Francisco. Since much of the recent shifts have spread out from the redeveloped waterfront and Rt. 83 corridor, you still see huge differences in home prices over the space of, say, 10 blocks. Looking at mostly typical Baltimore townhomes renovated in the past 10 years, our house which cost $240k would've cost $350k if it had been maybe 10 blocks south in the more gentrified Canton neighborhood. And now, a few years on, new renovations on our block are being listed for those $300-400k prices. From a long term investment perspective, it would seem that values will be holding steady or rising in my immediate area but in bigger terms, I think it relates quite a bit to the overall topic of this thread. Younger people (and probably some not so young) are still interested in home ownership but can't (or won't) afford to pay DC prices or even the prices of surrounding suburbs. I truly hope (selfishly, as a Baltimore resident) that this signals a wider shift to reinvestment or just investment in smaller cities that may have seen major declines during the 60's-80's as those with means moved out to the new burbs. Living within a few miles of work is great and being able to walk or bike places is awesome. I don't know how much you'd need to pay me to get me on that hour-long highway commute from the suburbs every day.