Rental Property Investment Resources

To see which cities offer the best rental opportunities and for investors, residential income (apartment buildings) investment opportunities, real estate website Trulia.com conducted an analysis of the most advantageous ratios between rental prices and home values.

Trulia looked at prices for two-bedroom apartments, condos and townhouses for sale and for rent in the 50 largest US metro areas. Total costs include rent and renter’s insurance vs. buying a home, which includes down payment, mortgage principal and interest, insurance, closing costs, property tax and applicable tax deductions.

Best places to rent are in urban job centers

The report found that the best places to rent are in urban job centers where rental demand remains high and where home values have declined only slightly. Other advantageous areas are cities that have experienced more stability in home prices over the past decade and have remained regional economic centers.

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Price-to-rent ratio

To calculate the price-to-rent ratio, Trulia compared average monthly rent costs with average monthly home owner payments, arriving at a final number that identifies whether buying or renting offers a better value.

According to Trulia, a price-to-rent ratio over 21 indicates the cost of owning a home is far greater than renting, a ratio of 15 or below tips in favor of ownership is, while a ratio of 16-20 is something of a toss up, depending on individual financial situations, although owning is generally more expensive in this mid-range.

Trulia also concludes that although a city may have a renter-friendly price-to-rent ratio, it is not necessarily unwise to purchase a home there, as prices have fallen during the recession and real estate in these cities could be a potentially good long-term investment.

Top 10 Countdown

10. Dallas, Texas
Price-to-rent ratio: 18.5

Average home list price: $293,767
Average rental price: $1,324

9. Cleveland, Ohio
Price-to-rent ratio: 19.68

Average home list price: $246,895
Average rental price: $1,046

8. San Diego, California
Price-to-rent ratio: 19.78

Average home list price: $396,409
Average rental price: $1,670

7. Kansas City, Missouri
Price-to-rent ratio: 20.16

Average home list price: $240,076
Average rental price: $992

6. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Price-to-rent ratio: 21.38

Average home list price: $195,663
Average rental price: $763

5. San Francisco, California
Price-to-rent ratio: 21.55

Average home list price: $774,728
Average rental price: $2,996

4. Portland, Oregon
Price-to-rent ratio: 22.41

Average home list price: $307,858
Average rental price: $1,145

3. Seattle, Washington
Price-to-rent ratio: 24.87

Average home list price: $461,330
Average rental price: $1,546

2. Omaha, Nebraska
Price-to-rent ratio: 26.41

Average home list price: $275,844
Average rental price: $870

1. New York, New York
Price-to-rent ratio: 32.59

Average home list price: $1,383,612
Average rental price: $3,538

real estate investing, commercial property foreclosure, property investments, buying rental property, rental property investment, property investors

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As an investor, one of the criteria you should be considering when choosing where to invest is the local economy, particularly job growth.

Here’s some research to help you see where the jobs are around the country.

Creating the list of the best cities to find a job in 2010 has been the most challenging, according to Mike Shires at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, who develops the survey.

In a phrase, he calls it “an awful year.”

In 2007′s survey 283 out of 393 metros areas showed job growth, and those at the top were often growing employment by at least 5% to 6%. Last year the number dropped to 63. This year’s survey, measuring growth from January 2009 to January 2010, found only 13 metros with any growth.

The source of new jobs in almost all areas were either government employment or highly taxpayer-funded sectors like education and health. This year’s best-performing regions were those that suffered the smallest losses in the private economy while bulking up on government steroids.

Rankings are based on employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported from November 1999 to January 2010, recent growth trends, mid-term growth, long-term trend and momentum and current-year growth.

Best big cities for jobs

No. 1 Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas
No. 2 San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas
No. 3 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas
No. 4 Northern Virginia, Va.
No. 5 Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas
No. 6 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md-W.Va.
No. 7 Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
No. 8 Raleigh-Cary, N.C.
No. 9 Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa
No. 10 New York City, N.Y.

Best mid-sized cities for jobs

No. 1 Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.
No. 2 Baton Rouge, La.
No. 3 Anchorage, Alaska
No. 4 Huntsville, Alabama
No. 5 El Paso, Texas
No. 6 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
No. 7 Corpus Christi, Texas
No. 8 Lafayette, La.
No. 9 Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa
No. 10 Lincoln, Nebraska

Best small cities for jobs

No. 1 Jacksonville, N.C.
No. 2 Bismarck, North Dakota
No. 3 College Station-Bryan, Texas
No. 4 Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Texas
No. 5 St. Joseph, Mo.-Kansas
No. 6 Fayetteville, N.C.
No. 7 Lawton, Oklahoma
No. 8 Fargo, North Dakota-Minn.
No. 9 Yakima, Washington
No. 10 Bloomington, Indiana
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Source:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/20/best-cities-jobs-economy-energy-opinions-columnists-joel-kotkin.html?partner=popstories

3 Crucial Keys To Investing Success: The most successful real estate investors #1. Pick a niche like foreclosures, probate sales, commercial property, tax certificate sales and the like – #2. Learn all there is to know about that niche – #3. Exploit the heck out of it for maximum profits.
Click here to get proven help with selecting the most lucrative real estate investing niches

P.S. Need money for your deals?
Click here for the best sources for money or zero down real estate sources

Technorati Tags: economy, jobs, best cities, real estate investing, rental property investment