Korean Job Discussion Forums

[fromtheuk]

Attention Americans - I am seriously thinking of buying a condo/house in America in the next few months. I'll have around $30,000 to invest.

There are some very cheap homes for sale in Detroit, with good capital appreciation and long-term rental prospects. I know many people are leaving the place, but there are some good deals on offer.

I'm also considering Arizona. Prices are cheap and many people from California are moving there. Arizona doesn't seem to have natural disasters.

I am not in a rush to buy, but for even $30,000 it seems I could buy a cheap, profitable house.

What do you advise?

[kberger]

I would never buy I rental property if I did not live in the area. Lots of things that can go wrong with rentals, first finding decent tenants to rent to, getting them to pay on time, they might move out, they might destroy the place...

One tip I have is look for crappy houses in college towns. Of course only if you have one in your area. Students pay a lot for run down dumps near campus and they never complain.

With any rental, you will save you lots of money if you can do some maintenance on your own. Plumbing, electrical, painting and stuff... It can get pricey to pay a contractor to do all those things for you.

[machoman]

[northway]

[veac]

Forget Detroit, go a little farther north and buy a house in Flint. You can get a mansion for $30,000 and a crap hole for around $5,000

[brickabrack]

OP. Wait about 2 years for the bottom.
If you're going to buy a rental, like the other said.....make sure you
stay in the area. Someone will eff up your digs, for sure if you're
not going to monitor it on a reg basis.

There's several diff markets all over the U.S., but I guarantee
you the majority of them have yet to reach bottom.

This whole forecast of inflation of the currency could change that
a little though.

[fromtheuk]

Thank you for the advice. I'd use a management company to look after the property. I want to buy while it's affordable.

[interestedinhanguk]

Detroit? Have you ever been there?

I suppose Arizona can be nice if you don't mind the heat (are you the one who works/worked in Saudi Arabia?).

[northway]

[hagwonnewbie]

A lot of foreclosures in Denver, which is probably the most significant city in the Southwest US.

[brickabrack]

[fromtheuk]

I did. You honestly think prices will drop further? I don't feel so sure.

[northway]

[Quack Addict]

Invest in land. Then build a house later. With 30,000 you could easily get 5-10 acres.

www.landwatch.com

[Adam Carolla]

While the price/rent ratios are great in places where real estate has been hit the hardest, you'll essentially become a slumlord. What does that entail? Basically, you'll be renting to tenants at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. They have bad credit, they don't care about your house, and they will likely skip several payments until they're finally evicted, at which point you'll be out hundreds to thousands of dollars.

What you should do is either try to get an investment loan (you'll typically need a 20-25% down payment) OR find an area that is about to become an economic hotspot. The former isn't terribly hard to do, the latter is like catching lightning in a bottle.