Although unintentional, its very cool to see that we have been investing in some of the "Most Beautiful and Affordable Places to Live in the U.S."!
✔ Hickory NC
✔ Louisville KY
✔ Greenville SC
All of these cities showed up on the top 10 rakings by #travelandleisure magazine, with Hickory taking top honors. This just so happens to be the first town we invested in out of state in 2015.
Our main metrics for deciding on where to invest typically don't include beauty of the town (maybe it should?!)
Here are some of the things that we do look for when finding new cities to invest in:
- Market Trends: Where are property values going, what the average cap rate of recently sold properties, the number of new construction projects, overall economic development in the area? Etc.
- The Economy: Are people and companies moving into the area, where are income levels trending? Etc.
- Housing Demand: What is the overall vacancy rate (market and our particular submarket)? For this we also tend to look at migration patterns (which has largely been moving south), population growth, new construction coming online, and how affordable is housing?
- Average Rent: We like to have an idea of the average rent of the market as well as the mortgage cost for the average house.
- Taxes: How will they affect us from purchase to sale?
- Crime: No one is attracted to an area with high crime.
- Education: How are to schools? (K-12) Are there opportunities for higher education in the area?
There's more to it but this is a good start when looking for a new market. Don't forget to consider if its beautiful, maybe that we keep and attract a whole new group of people to the area! 😉 🌴 🏔🍁