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That's the closest answer to where I'm at now... real estate is the best candidate at the moment, rental properties or flipping houses. Besides California, whe

That's the closest answer to where I'm at now... real estate is the best candidate at the moment, rental properties or flipping houses. Besides California, where would you be looking to buy?

__derek__ 10y ago
I would recommend the Seattle area. The market is very competitive, but it's hard to imagine it weakening with Amazon's eating up all the office space it can, Google and Facebook's doubling down with new offices, and Microsoft's apparently continuing renaissance.
karmajunkie 10y ago
Rental properties in suburbs of Austin. They're growing fast but in the right spots you can pick up three or four properties by leveraging 500k. And Texas is very slanted towards landlord rights (not that I personally feel good about that, it's just how it is.)
davismwfl 10y ago
There are a lot of places to look outside of California. Pick some of the states near you that went through the bust badly. If you are in CA, then look to AZ, NV, TX. If you don't mind the cold, MN, MI, IL. And if you like the southeast, throw a dart there is tons of stuff down this way. Personally, I am in Florida and it is quickly recovering now and you have to look harder to find the right rehab if that is what you want to do, but good rentals are easier to find. And frankly, I am loving that the younger generation is renting far longer then in the past, this is helping to keep rental rates good and driving demand for now.
tom_b 10y ago
Just anecdotally, I have friends who have been very successful with buying and renting condos/apartments in a college town. Demand for rental units stays high (well-known, reputable public university). Oddly enough, they have generally negative experiences renting to parents of students instead of directly to students. I will say that my friend works full time as the property manager for their units. It's not a passive investment. Several years ago, I talked with an accountant who had clients who owned rental property about the ROI. The feedback was that if you had to hire a property manager and outsource all repairs/maintenance, the value proposition of rental property was greatly reduced and closer to neutral than many owners initially assumed. It looks like it is working out well for my friends though - they were able to leverage their financing as they acquired new units because interest rates have been so low. They have been cash-flow positive for many years. But they also capped themselves at about 20 units under management.

That's the closest answer to where I'm at now... real estate is the best candidate at the moment, rental properties or flipping houses. Besides California, where would you be looking to buy?

__derek__ 10y ago

I would recommend the Seattle area. The market is very competitive, but it's hard to imagine it weakening with Amazon's eating up all the office space it can, Google and Facebook's doubling down with new offices, and Microsoft's apparently continuing renaissance.

karmajunkie 10y ago

Rental properties in suburbs of Austin. They're growing fast but in the right spots you can pick up three or four properties by leveraging 500k. And Texas is very slanted towards landlord rights (not that I personally feel good about that, it's just how it is.)

davismwfl 10y ago

There are a lot of places to look outside of California. Pick some of the states near you that went through the bust badly. If you are in CA, then look to AZ, NV, TX. If you don't mind the cold, MN, MI, IL. And if you like the southeast, throw a dart there is tons of stuff down this way. Personally, I am in Florida and it is quickly recovering now and you have to look harder to find the right rehab if that is what you want to do, but good rentals are easier to find. And frankly, I am loving that the younger generation is renting far longer then in the past, this is helping to keep rental rates good and driving demand for now.

tom_b 10y ago

Just anecdotally, I have friends who have been very successful with buying and renting condos/apartments in a college town. Demand for rental units stays high (well-known, reputable public university). Oddly enough, they have generally negative experiences renting to parents of students instead of directly to students. I will say that my friend works full time as the property manager for their units. It's not a passive investment. Several years ago, I talked with an accountant who had clients who owned rental property about the ROI. The feedback was that if you had to hire a property manager and outsource all repairs/maintenance, the value proposition of rental property was greatly reduced and closer to neutral than many owners initially assumed. It looks like it is working out well for my friends though - they were able to leverage their financing as they acquired new units because interest rates have been so low. They have been cash-flow positive for many years. But they also capped themselves at about 20 units under management.