Looking for Real Estate in Youngstown (Boardman, Orange: section 8, real estate market, rental)

[tsilvercooin]

Hello,

I will be moving to Youngstown, Ohio the end of July. Brought my home sight unseen but I'm really excited about the new adventure. I'm looking to start my own business and I'm interested in real estate. Does anyone have any information regarding FSBOs or low cost houses, auctions etc. Also looking for contractors that will restore and makeover old homes to resell.

Any information would be helpful.

tsilvercoin

[boardmanite]

Well, if you're looking for low cost houses, Youngstown is THE place. Sorry, I don't know much about the real estate industry. But your move to Ytown will certainly be an adventure... There are lots of houses to restore in the city, some with amazing architecture. The only problem is incredibly low demand for housing in the city of any kind and I question whether there would be any money in renovating Ytown houses. But I'm only guessing. I'm no expert.

[Fat Tony]

The only way you are going to make any money in Y-Town Real Estate is by renting section 8. North Youngstown is the place to buy, with 2-3BR houses in decent shape going for 20-30K. Southside homes are even cheaper, but on a whole, seem to need more work. Trying to flip houses, though, will get you nowhwere, as anybody living in Youngstown has money or credit to buy a home.

[mdmagana]

We have rental property in Boardman. (Right next to Youngstown) I'm not saying you cannot make money with residential property in Youngstown, but do be very, very careful.

I think money can be made in almost any market for a creative investor, but use caution in Y-town. Coming from Orange County, CA, to us the comparably very low cost of the real estate market in Youngstown was very attractive. However, unlike Orange County, you can't just buy where ever you want or where ever you see a good deal. True the costs are low, true there are nice properties to be had, but the Youngstown market, in my opinion, is very tricky.

If you have any experience developing, are at all familiar with net leases, and have some capital, I would suggest trying to develop on the commercial side. The very low cost of land in a good area made this appealing to us. Even here... you need to be very, very careful. Back home in O.C. We could put up a tiny strip center where ever and have no problem finding quality tenants. In Y-town, even in a good area, you may have a hard time finding quality tenants.

In our case, we had cash for everything, so we could afford to let things sit vacant until we found a suitable / quality tenant. However, this took a while. If we had been carrying construction loans, or were immediately dependant on rent to put food on the table... we would have been in serious trouble.

On the whole, I like Y-town. From a strictly business point of view, I don't. It has been good to us and we have made money, but in my opinion the rents (residential or commercial) are just to low to bother with. Not that I can't use an extra $400 or $500 a month... but when you factor in property taxes and other repairs, the cap rates on y-town residential property are just to low.