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Cheapest places to buy a home in U.S.

EK said:
The last few houses I looked at were sold at $200k to $300k over the asking price, with 15 to 20 offers. Damn Apple employees...
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Are you looking at houses that are in the range between $2 - $3M?

Which area are you referring to, that's amazing.
 
Ultraman said:
Do you know the rough going rate for renting out that property?

Based on the selling price my guess is it's well over 10%, so looking from that angle even the price drop more at least you're protected by the rental income.
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My goal was 20%, but I'm starting to realize that may not happen if I want to stay out of bad areas. If you're willing to do bad areas, 20%(gross) is easy.

For a nice 3bed, 2bath brick rancher, between $900-$1200.
Section 8 pays $800/mo, so that's the floor.

Based on research so far, there's something called the 50% rule. People say to expect only 50% of your rent to stay in your pocket. 50% is eaten up by things like insurance, taxes, fixing things, new paint, new carpet, roof, etc.

So realistically what I'm looking for is probably 8-10% after expenses. Note that rent should(?) go up with inflation, so when comparing against dividend stocks, add on another 3%.
I'm still figuring things out though. From what I can tell with interest rates and bank shadow inventory, we have a 1-2 years of time. There's no rush from what I can tell. I almost wonder if it's better to let all the hard money guys dry up and come in at the end.
I also wonder if the summer time is a dumb time for an investor to buy? Seems like the good things go quick.

What I really want is to pay someone to do shortsale work for me.
Send the letters, do the phone stuff, paperwork, etc and just present me with the deal when it's ready.


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Ultraman said:
Are you looking at houses that are in the range between $2 - $3M?

Which area are you referring to, that's amazing.
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Thank you! It is my garage in the back...installing alarm in there cost me extra though :(
Other than that pretty cool having the garage in the back and detached.
 
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