4plex investment in Hville (Huntsville, Madison: rentals, low crime, neighborhoods)

[lmoldov]

I am planning to buy a 4plex in Hunstville, AL based on a real-estate agent's advice from CA who did a thorough research of the area. What would be the best areas (zip codes) to buy such a 4plex. Any comments/advices are welcome. Thanks!

[NicoleC]

I would strongly recommend talking to a local agent who deals with investment properties. The market here us completely and utterly unlike the California market. Completely.

Also, be aware that zip codes here can cover a lot of territory. 35811 is all the way form Chapman Heights into most of NE Huntsville... and some very diverse neighborhoods are in it. (That's just an example.)

You may want to review what's available on valleymls.com

[dbkeel1]

I agree with NicoleC. Talk with a solid, experienced local Realtor.

There are clusters of fourplexes in the area, most built in the 1980s. Many are in less than optimal areas. There are also multiple fourplexes where there are multiple owners with multiple levels of rents and building maintenance. Unless you can see the property and inspect it firsthand, you might have more maintenance costs than expected or have trouble raising rents without causing tenants to simply move out of your building and into the building next door because the owner of that building charges less. That's costly. And then there'd be the need for local property management. A 10% management fee is normal, rarely 8%. Some management companies do much better than others for their money, of course, and most are locally owned.

I'd seriously recommend any investors fly to Huntsville (or any other market you're considering) and see things for themselves before buying anything as an out-of-state investor.

[jasonbourne]

Can anyone recommend a few excellent PMs in the Huntsville-Madison area who can manage 4-plexes?

[lmoldov]

Thanks for the feedback! I will definitelly travel to HSV before buying + have a professional real-estate inspector check out the 4plex. I would like to buy a newer building, let's say not more than 10 years b/c I don't want to put $$s into fixes and rehabs. Is there a combination of the following possible: bldg <= q0 years old, low crime area, good school district, rents in the $500/unit range? I would like to zoom in on some areas of interest b4 flying down there.

And of course: can anyone recommend a good/trustworthy property manager?

Thanks again!

[TootsieWootsie]

What is the general cost of a 4 plex in Huntsville in a safe, clean area? Just a general cost would give some idea of what we need to spend. Thanks!

[Southlander]

Try ValleyMLS.com to get some idea.

[dbkeel1]

The 4-plexes that were $150K just three years ago are now $200K+. Speculators are buying ahead of the market growth and driving prices. Figure $180K to $250K depending upon location and quality.

[jwfuller]

That's disapointing. I'm from NE Alabama, and I'm currently away in the military. I wanted to start buying some rentals in the area, but everything has gone up. I agree with those that say BRAC is not going to make that huge of an impact and fill up all of these sub-divisions and expensive rentals that are going up, and then the prices are going to come back down

[jasonbourne]

jwfuller, BRAC is expected to bring (last I heard/read) up to 10K jobs into Huntsville. One could expect 2.5 ancillary jobs for each BRAC job.

Would you elaborate why you think these numbers would not make a huge impact in the city of Huntsville?