I’ve heard good things about Tennessee’s real estate market. It’s getting decent appreciation, and there are a lot of good cash flow properties there. ROE’s are running about 30% to even 40% in some properties (which are usually not SFR’s or condos). Even if you run the numbers from the properties listed on loopnet.com, you’ll get 25% ROE’s. I’ve seen cost-per-units there from $30k to $60k. If I had some extra money, I would have bought in Tennessee. Alabama has cheaper properties but the demographics make raising the rent difficult. Tennessee has more room to grow in that capacity.
As for the real estate work, it’s hard the first year or two, and it certainly puts a lot of demand on your time. There are a few people I’ve tried to inspire to get into real estate investing, but they’re the complete opposite – they are way too negative and they see the difficulties instead of the future rewards. For anybody who is curious about it, I would say they should look into it sooner rather than later. In real estate the most important thing is time.
