Buying a 1br condo as investment around Danbury (Bridgeport, New Haven: real estate market, rent)

LeoNYC · 05-08-2018, 04:45 PM

I live in NYC, saved up a bit of money (have about 130K to invest), and have wanted to buy an investment property for a while.

I started looking in the tri-state area with the idea: where can I buy a property for this money without taking a mortgage (want to do all cash).

And the area that attracted my interest was Danbury, because it is less than 1.5 hour drive from the city, yet has decent 1br condos coming to market from time to time in the 115-140K range.

Some of these condo complexes have a lot of investor owned propertied so the potential owners can not use mortgage. But for the cash buyers they seem interesting.

I have never actually invested in real estate so wanted to ask if those who know the area think it is a good idea. Any thoughts, tips, ideas would be appreciated.

CTartist · 05-08-2018, 06:01 PM

I posted this in another thread about Danbury.
https://patch.com/connecticut/danbur...nnecticut-live

There is a poster who has a thread about Danbury and you can see a lot of conversation about the city.
Cool Danbury

I am from Stamford but I had some cousins that moved up to Danbury/Bethel and a friend to Brookfield. They really liked it up there. I believe Danbury is also the safest city in CT. I would look in Bethel and Brookfield too.

I think the Danbury area would be a good investment.

Stylo · 05-08-2018, 06:49 PM

Personally, would invest along the main New Haven train line. It is in fact the only area of CT I would invest in right now. While Danbury has been seeing good growth, it’s not as well connected to NYC train wise and TOD development is the future. You can see how soft the greater Danbury suburban real estate market is now. Not so much on the coast.

The drive time doesn’t matter. Train access matters.

Would look at Stratford, Milford, Black Rock or even other parts of Bridgeport first. It’s a hot market with growth potential. I just had some real estate experience in Milford that way exceeded my expectations. And a few friends too. Meanwhile some family almost gave away their condo in Brookfield.

This is just one person’s advice, of course.

BPt111 · 05-08-2018, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stylo

Personally, would invest along the main New Haven train line. It is in fact the only area of CT I would invest in right now. While Danbury has been seeing good growth, it’s not as well connected to NYC train wise and TOD development is the future. You can see how soft the greater Danbury suburban real estate market is now. Not so much on the coast.

The drive time doesn’t matter. Train access matters.

Would look at Stratford, Milford, Black Rock or even other parts of Bridgeport first. It’s a hot market with growth potential. I just had some real estate experience in Milford that way exceeded my expectations. And a few friends too. Meanwhile some family almost gave away their condo in Brookfield.

This is just one person’s advice, of course.

Norwalk, West Haven, Orange, Shelton too

Stylo · 05-08-2018, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BPt111

Norwalk, West Haven, Orange, Shelton too

Yes, although Norwalk entry point is $$$

LeoNYC · 05-08-2018, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stylo

Personally, would invest along the main New Haven train line. It is in fact the only area of CT I would invest in right now. While Danbury has been seeing good growth, it’s not as well connected to NYC train wise and TOD development is the future. You can see how soft the greater Danbury suburban real estate market is now. Not so much on the coast.

The drive time doesn’t matter. Train access matters.

Would look at Stratford, Milford, Black Rock or even other parts of Bridgeport first. It’s a hot market with growth potential. I just had some real estate experience in Milford that way exceeded my expectations. And a few friends too. Meanwhile some family almost gave away their condo in Brookfield.

This is just one person’s advice, of course.

Thank you very much four advice, although I doubt I would find anything for my cash budget (up to 140K) in these more desirable areas. But I see what you are saying, will look.

Stylo · 05-08-2018, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeoNYC

Thank you very much four advice, although I doubt I would find anything for my cash budget (up to 140K) in these more desirable areas. But I see what you are saying, will look.

Last few are fixer uppers but being near Fairfield Metro station is huge.

BPt111 · 05-08-2018, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stylo

Last few are fixer uppers but being near Fairfield Metro station is huge.

Milford buildings look bit sketchy 2nd one

Stepfordct · 05-08-2018, 09:29 PM

Agree about staying on or near the coastline area.
That said please do not pay 6 figures for a condo. Just not a wise use of funds. My first house by design as i was single. 2 family in Milford. 10% down. My mortage, taxes,etc came to $1250 month. Rent from 1 unit $850. Put some sweat equity, and 3,000 or so. 4 yrs later married bought another home. Rents go up. Getting $1800 month. Rinse and repeat.

By leveraging your $$ with others people money (OPM) You will far exceed your return. After moving out of my 2 family house, i got back my initial 17k investment in roughly 3 yrs.

Other thing is if you buy the wrong property with all cash your stuck or worse. Most people i know buying condos for cash are paying under 50k at auction etc..

You worked too hard to tie that much money on a small deal.

Cambium · 05-09-2018, 04:06 AM

Milford better than Danbury to invest IMO. You can find a clean updated 1BR condo for under $150k and its close to everything including the shore. While appreciate is slow, the drops arent as hard and the area continues to be devloped with low taxes. In 30yrs it will probably be the next Norwalk.

And dont put all your eggs in 1 basket either. Its ok to get a little loan