Eva VanAken, Block & Associates
NuWire: What is it in particular about Raleigh that might make it an exciting place for investors to look at buying real estate?
VanAken: We've got a lot of growth going on as far as...employment opportunities. There's the Research Triangle Park. We...have major universities in the area, North Carolina State, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and then also Duke University. And so all of those combined make it a good area.
NuWire: Which areas of the city in your opinion are currently experiencing the greatest amount of growth?
VanAken: Raleigh, Cary [and] Durham...are so intermingled and intertwined that it makes almost any area good....North Raleigh, and Cary, on over into Apex, Holly Springs and also even north of Raleigh into Wake Forest are all doing extremely well.
NuWire: If an investor is...interested in maximizing their cash flow, which area would you recommend them looking in to buy?
VanAken: Almost any of those areas. North Raleigh, Wake Forest, Cary, Apex and then also Holly Springs and Fuquay are also seeing some good amount of growth as well.
NuWire: What about areas that investors have started to do rehabs and flips in?
VanAken: No, most of the people that we work with...are buying newer property.
NuWire: Why do you think that is?
VanAken: I guess the builders are giving them awesome deals. We have a lot of investors coming in from California right now who are buying property and they're all buying brand-new properties in various areas...because they're...getting good deals on them from the builders, but also...[brand-new properties are] very attractive to a potential renter.
NuWire: What are the approximate rental rates for, say, a one-bedroom apartment, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and then a four-bedroom-plus single family home?
VanAken: First of all, don't do apartments. I'd stick with...the single family homes, condos and townhomes...but it all depends on where the property is located.
You can have a one-bedroom, one-bath rental maybe up in North Raleigh that's going...for $700 or $800 but then you've got some that are in downtown Raleigh "inside the beltline," which is...the "in" place so to speak, and we've got one-bedrooms down there going for...$1,200, $1,300, $1,400 and up.
I would say, on average, a two-bedroom, you're probably looking at the price range of anywhere from maybe...$800 to possibly $1,000, depending on whether or not it has a garage.
A three-bedroom, again, on a townhome or a condo level, probably in that $900 to $1,000 to $1,200 price range...depending on whether it has a garage.
Single family homes will depend on the location, the number of bedrooms, the square footage and sometimes...the age or what upgrades the property has. But you can find a nice...three-bedroom home without a garage for $1,000, but then we also have properties that go all the way up into the $2,000, $3,000 and $4,000 a month range.
NuWire: Which types of properties, in your opinion, rent the fastest in the areas that you mentioned with North Raleigh and Apex, Cary, those areas?
VanAken: A single family home, something in the three-bedroom with a bonus or four-bedroom in there, that's going to probably...in the $1,300 to $1,500, $1,600 price range.
NuWire: And do those typically go pretty fast as rentals?
VanAken: Yes, they go pretty well.
NuWire: Would you say that the rental market within the beltline and then also in the areas that you mentioned before favors the landlord or the tenant?
VanAken: Right now, it's kind of an even scale on that.
There's times where...an owner has a home and everybody seems to want it and he can actually get a little bit more but then....I would say it's even.
NuWire: Which areas do you see maybe having future potential or future opportunity for investors that we haven't talked about already?
VanAken: I would see some more growth going on out towards the Knightdale, Wendell area.
Holly Springs and Fuquay are doing well. I can see a little bit more growth potential going on out there.
And I think the areas of Raleigh, Cary and Apex, they have really grown and so now people are kind of moving outwards from there.
But honestly, I think the next big boom is going to hit like the Knightdale, Wendell area. And I'm already starting to see that in some aspects.
