It's now an ingrained habit; I look at properties every day. I've told myself that I won't purchase another property until after my first professional exam in late August, (ABR I-Therapeutic Medical Physics) but I know I'll have one eye on the market, keeping at the ready for when the test is over with.
There are a lot of duds on the market at any given time. It's a challenge wading through the hundreds of properties on the block, but luckily there are some good websites out there that provide search filters that help in the hunting. I primarily use Redfin, but unfortunately, it's only available in larger markets, so others may not find it as helpful.
Here's a property I found awhile back:
This property is technically a multi-family because it is a single lot with two homes. This one is a bit out of town, approximately 20 minutes NW of Olympia in a town called Shelton. Shelton is definitely a self-sustaining community, but is small. Certainly properties here are much less expensive than in Olympia or Lacey. However, it passes my first test: the rent the property should draw on a monthly basis must be at least 1% of the purchase price of the home. That is to say, if a home is purchased for $110,000, it should be rented for at least $1,100/month. In easy markets like Indianapolis or Buffalo, investors say the number should be 2%, but that just isn't a possibility in locales with higher housing prices. This Shelton multi-family is listed at $89,500, and is purported to bring in $1,200 a month, or $600 per side. It's enough to pique my interest. Too bad I'm not buying...
Of course, an smart investor wouldn't base his financial strategies on a single 1% criterion, and there are many other measures by which rentals are compared. I'll further analyze this same property next time.
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