How much to Start investing in USA property

Hi Jeff,

I have recently bought my 1st in Rochester and so far its been good. The team on the ground is fantastic. A good mate of mine has over 60 properties there and has been investing in Rochester for the past 9 years. No capital growth but his properties are always tenanted and very well managed. I think the you can make money anywere as long as you have a good mastermind team around you.
Engelo

I think this is a good discussion to have  " is it better to invest where the market crashed IE AZ NV FL Central CA for example" or
Where the markets have remained fairly steady throughout the last 5 years IE  " Texas"

One could argue that the Homes in Texas can only go up if there is apprecaition and one could argue that homes in the markets where the values crashed can rebound Not by appreciation but market corrections as in the markets over reacted and the price's fell lower based on over building lack of liquidity and panic.

Then you have the markets like your talking about which is really any Big Northwest inner city or satillte city like Rochester where populations employeement etc. are all trending down and really there is not much hope for anything but a rental market and flat price's as I think most people acknowledge.

In these flat and super depressed markets there are all sorts of investors families etc that use the rental houses as a business and they own usually 50 or more sometimes 100's I know one old geezer that has 800 in Indy for example he has been collecting them for 50 years. There is economy in scale and with a larger portfolio in what I call the low end rentals ( or not so nicely slum lording) if you have enough of them and set it up as business you can make a living. What is very Risky in my mind is the investor that comes into those types of markets and buys 1 or 2 houses and expects the same returns as the folks who have volumes of houses. At the end of the day in these type of markets you want to get big enough that you do not hire property managers and maintenance crews. They are your employee's And you detach yourself from the Drama that is these tenants and issues. You make the decisions at the 1k foot level not in the trenchs.

I for one beleive there is more upside in buying the Higher end homes that prices have crashed and that a nice bounce back without appreciation will create a capital growth Scenerio. I do not beleive you will see any large apprecaition in a market Like Texas. Your already paying a premium for those houses. And builders can build new construction and compete with the rental stock very easily, Not to mention one of the highest property tax rates in the country,

Be interested in others veiw on whats best. The bounce back theory or the "my market never dropped theory and there is going to be apprecaiton"

As a company for our rental portfolios we only invest in State capitals. And then if its not a state capital it has to be the Country seat. You want as many state and Federal, medical, and education jobs as possible this leads to the most stable rental pool, and long time renters B/C State and Federal employees teachers etc do not move around as much as corperate self employeeds etc.

JLH