Homes for sale huntsville Huntsville Alabama Real Estate

The following is an edited correspondence to an out of state investor looking at the Huntsville Real Estate Investment market. The information should be helpful to anyone considering Huntsville area investment property.

In general my preference for investment property is single family homes that will rent in the $800 - $1200 range, located in neighborhoods with good schools and with consistent appreciation. While the cash flow of single family homes is not what multifamily properties advertise (often they cash flow on paper and in theory only) single family properties are much more liquid, have better appreciation and are much easier to manage.
 
The link below is to all the available multifamily properties in the Huntsville area. On a quick review, I see the same old properties that are usually posted but not selling. Most are in horrible areas where it is impossible to find decent tenants. The others are grossly overpriced. There are a few properties listed that we managed several years ago and dropped management of because it was so difficult to find decent tenants and the owners refused to maintain the properties. Most decent multifamily property either never reach the MLS or sell very quickly.
 
 
I do know of one unique multifamily property on Montesano Mountain, just east of our downtown and medical districts.  It is not on the market but the owners would sell. We picked up management of the property three years ago. It has out of area owners and had been poorly managed by a local realtor for several years. There were serious maintanance issues and the rents were grossly under market levels. Over time we have taken care of the deferred maintenance and raised rents to market levels. We put the units on the market for sale last year and they went under contract in the remarkably short time of two weeks. The purchaser did his inspections and we waited for over 60 days for the appraisal. The appraiser used comparables from areas that were very bad, unsafe neighborhoods and not at all realistic comparisons. The appraisal came in extremely low. 
 
The sellers were frustrated because we had taken the property off market for so long waiting on the purchaser and decided to wait until market conditions improved to re-list the property.
 
The link below is to the old listing.
 
 
These are older units. We are adding central heat and air to one unit but the rest have wall heaters and widow air conditioners. The location is excellent, in a highly sought after area with excellent schools. If the property does interest you, we can provide more detail. 
 
Right now Huntsville is in a decidedly buyers market. There is far too much available inventory and some builders are struggling. I am aware do a few builders that have gone out of business. Our market is however showing signs of recovery and as the 4,700 projected new military jobs begin to be filled starting this spring and summer, our market will become more balanced.
 
Since you have the wherewithal to pay cash for properties, you will be at a distinct additional advantage in negotiations. Once you acquire properties, you might consider taking out mortgages on them and reinvesting the loan proceeds into additional properties. Financing costs and lender requirements on "refinance" loans are much less than that of acquisition loans. Leveraging is a powerful wealth building tool.
 
As mentioned in my first email, Madison followed by select areas of west Huntsville and northeast Madison County are my favorite areas to direct investors.Since you are just starting to get your bearings in the Huntsville real estate market, a review of areas to consider might be in order.
 
Prospective tenants (and prospective buyers on an eventual resale) will consider the commute time to their work, the quality of the schools and then the quality of the neighborhood and the amenities of the specific property.
 
Most of our area's larger employers that will grow from the incoming jobs with BRAC, are located on Redstone Arsenal in the southwest quadrant of Huntsville and immediately to the north of Redstone Arsenal in Cummings Research Park. Just west of Redstone Arsenal is the Huntsville International Airport. There are a few employers with campuses adjacent to the airport. The airport has two runways, both aligned south to north so properties in the flight path should be avoided.
 
Areas that are close to this concentration of employers are Madison and parts of west Huntsville. There are neighborhoods located in the city of Huntsville just west of Redstone Arsenal that have very good long term growth records and future growth potential. There is a lot of growth in this area of upscale homes. The schools in the area had seen some decline but there is a new school in the final stages of construction that will serve the area. I have spoken with parents of children who attend the school and they are happy with it.
 
Another area I like is close-in northeast Madison County. I-565 goes to the edge of Huntsville to this area. There are plans to extend the interstate another 3 miles, eliminating traffic lights that are now at the end of the interstate. There are also plans for a large shopping, restaurant  and entertainment complex at the edge if the city near the interstate. Site preparation had already been done for the complex when the economy took a downturn and the construction projects were delayed. The schools are good in this area and there is a lot of residential and retail growth.  Commutes are moderate. The area also has a natural beauty with open space, mountains, rivers and lakes. Our family moved from the city two years ago to this area and we have been very pleased with the area.
 
The link below is to available properties in Madison that might be prospects.
 
 
Using the Collinwood neighborhood as an example again. The link below is to recent MLS rental data. All of the properties are managed by our firm. You will see that rents are in the $1,100 to $1,250 range.
 
 
The link below is to properties in the area just west of Redstone Arsenal.
 
 
The link below is to candidate properties in northeast Madison County.
 
 
If you are at the point of being ready to focus in on a particular area or price range please let me know. I can start to send properties for you to review. Once we start to focus in on a particular property  we will provide a market analysis, listing history and estimated rental values. We can make an onsite visit and provide our impressions of the and forward additional, detailed photos. Will you be able to make visit to view the properties?
 
If you like, we can provide references of out of state investor clients. We have several on the west coast.
 
Best Regards,
 
Philip Winburn
256.797.4570
philipwinburn@mchsi.com
Homes For Sale Huntsville, Alabama
www.HuntsvilleRealty.Net
 
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Posted by Philip Winburn on February 26th, 2009 2:38 PMPost a Comment (0)
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