There's always at least a little risk. No such thing as a "100% safe" investment. US Treasuries, gold, real estate, etc all have at least a little risk of one form or another.
There are definitely always risks, but I definitely think that real estate is one of the safest bets. I mean, even in the worst of situations, you'll always have a home that you yourself can live in if you fall on hard times. Or that you can sell. You do obviously have to worry about things like tenants destroying the place or something, but I'd still say it's the best bet. Even if the housing market slows down, it should pick back up eventually.
It's one of those markets that you always know will eventually pick back up, people always need a place to live, you might need to rent for less and have some losses, but it's rarely a complete loss.
I've always heard that there is no safer investment than in real estate and that's the fact, everyone needs a place to live, so as soon as the market pick up the prices on real estate will go up too.
Okay, let me think this through. The secondary much less expensive area I have in mind would cost about $120k per house, so $360k for three houses. Rent... see there's where I don't have the numbers yet but I'm thinking maybe $700/mo... $2100/mo. income. Another house like the first we have in the other area would cost around $400k with rent around $2200/mo. So bottom line, it's not really much different in my mind *until* it comes to taxes, which would be considerably more on the 3 houses. Well... the property manager would have those headaches. I do believe I just answered my own question, Strykstar. If the real estate cost is nearly the same and the rental income is nearly the same, then the thing to consider would be issues like taxes. Or...???
I suspect I'm not that trusting to rely on online reviews for something so important. I've seen some of the best lawyers and doctors having glowing (padded!) reviews online... anyone can claim to be a patient/client and say whatever they want. I think I'd have to talk to people in the area... in person. I've loved the Internet for more than 17 years now, but I've seen too much.
More secure investments than real estate... uh.... sorry, can't think of any 'cept gold, nope. Now of course if you don't do your homework and buy a row of townhouses smack in the middle of meth lab territory, then real estate might not be a good choice... that I'll agree with. But who'd buy real estate without thorough research?
That's true; there are a lot of fake reviews out there. You can often tell what's fake and what isn't but not always. I guess you really do just have to ask around. You can't trust the fake reviews, and you obviously can't trust what the property manager himself has to say about himself and how reliable and reputable he is.
That's pretty much it, you need to consider all the expenses and incomes between buying and renting, only in that way you can realize what is more profitable for you. I still think buying is the best option.
Yes... no question there. My original post was about buying three houses vs. one house in a high cost area, though. I know that buying is always better.