A prime rental property can bring in monthly income and appreciate in value over time. Before taking the plunge, though, buy-and-hold investors should consider a list of factors. These include rental rates, a property’s asking price, the state of the housing market, state and local taxes and appreciation potential, said Alex Villacorta, executive vice president of analytics at HouseCanary, a data analytics real estate platform for investors, realtors, brokers and lenders.
“Most of these factors change from neighborhood to neighborhood and even from block to block,” Villacorta said. “There are still pockets of opportunity in most markets where home prices remain relatively low and price growth is very strong — a perfect combination for buy-and-hold investors who are seeking to increase their wealth through rental investment.”
Although areas that command high rents are initially attractive, when rental rates exceed 30% of the neighborhood’s median income the investment property market might be headed for unsustainable heights, Villacorta said.
“Depending on the investing horizon, a higher proportion of income needed for rents could be a risk and a reward,” he said. “In the short term, surging rental rates indicate that there is strong demand for presumably limited inventory, which portends higher returns for the investor. In the long term, however, these low-supply markets are prime targets for larger multifamily construction or increased single-family home production.”
Another option is to invest in a multifamily property from the get-go, said Sep Niakan, owner and managing broker at HB Roswell Realty and founder of the condo listing site CondoBlackBook.com.
“It’s always easier to manage both the property and multiple tenants on a single property than multiple tenants in multiple properties,” Niakan said. “That said, another way to simplify your rental investment is to purchase a condo, where you will have to spend considerably less time maintaining the property than an independent property.”
source: gobankingrates
