Rental investment in Providence???

[newwoman2]

If you want to invest out of state I recommend landlord-friendly states like Indiana, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, and Arizona.

And dont listen to the posters saying it isnt a good idea to invest out of state. Do your due diligence, get a good property management company, crack the numbers and make sure it's a deal before buying. But dont listen to them. Real estate investing, whether in state or out of state is the path to wealth.

[independent man]

Originally Posted by elnene2k

Hi Nbrake,
Don't live in PVD but considering it as we are moving back to new England this year...I live in an area right now with a lot of absentee landlords that buy properties in impoverished areas for really cheap only to make the areas worse as they rent them to drug dealers, crack addicts, losers, etc etc...In return, those properties get torn apart in no time and neighborhood values stay the same as a result...Thus you then become a "slumlord" not knowing who you're renting to...Doesn't happen all the time but the problem is when you buy in the lower income areas, it's what you mostly attract for tenants...the other problem is that there is such an overabundance of these rentals in that area and thus you have a harder time finding decent people to live there...That's how you end up with these "trouble maker" tenants as you end up wanting anybody in there...Even worse is you end up going bankrupt on the property as it won't be able to make you the money back...Not good for the community...Even worse for neighborhoods trying to make a comeback or get revitalized...Another thing is these absentee landlords only have enough money to buy and pay for the property...Not to upkeep or restore it...Thus being that you bought it for such a cheap price, it prob already needs work...being absent, you can't keep up with the work, and then you end up having the crappiest house on the block...

So unless you have something to offer the community being that you will keep up with repairs to the house, or refurbish it to keep up with the other historic homes if it in a historic area, or only rent to good standing citizens, please don't buy and become a slumlord...

Excellent and informed Comments! Misdirected absentee "investors" often turn into slumlords. They buy cheap in a marginal neighborhood and then can't afford to maintain the multi-family. And, the downward spiral of the property (and its sketchy tenants) drags the neighborhood farther down with it.