Why do you care about companies leaving Rochester? Buying a $20K home means you are going to be a slumlord, and your tenants will be on public assistance, not working for a living. Thanks to investors like you, Rochester has become a magnet for the troubled, the violent, the drug addicted, and the criminal, all of whom can find a cheap place to live on the dole. Those who are simply poor, but can't find jobs, get to raise their children in poorly-maintained lead-paint infested hovels alongside the criminals. Eventually, of course, many of the neighborhoods in which you "invest" (LOL!) will need to be bulldozed, as is occurring in Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo. But by then, you'll have extracted your pound of flesh from the neighborhoods you helped destroy.

Unless, of course, the cash-strapped city and county somehow get a brain between them, and do what many other cities have already done: Impose very large property tax levees on investment property, with big breaks for resident owners. Until then, enjoy your party.

Don't forget the professional home inspection. I've have performed over 5000 home inspections over the years and many of the inspections were for multi-family homes for out-of-town investors. You'll gain a keen insight to the property and be well informed as to the condition of the property.

This is Kevin Crego, broker-owner of Crego Realty Group.Rochester is ranked in the top five places to invest by Barron's , Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine. Cash flow from investments in homes under 25K is a great way to build a growth portfolio. If you do decide to invest in the City of Rochester make sure you chose an agent-broker-that has EXPERIENCE investing in Rochester and is ALSO a landlord-investor themselves.

$20,000 will get you something practically falling down in the worst neighborhoods of our fair city. If you do buy some of these properties, probably by auction, how are you set for having someone locally here to manage the properties? Sorry, but as a home owner in a neighborhood with some properties owned by out-of-town landlords, I don't care for them much.

You're not missing anything Rajeev! Rochester is usually voted #1 or 2 for Cash Flow properties. I'm actually renovating one right now to sell for cash flow. I'm not originally from Rochester but I've found great opportunities here for investing. Good luck!

Rajeev,

It's Pete Lezeska from RE/MAX First. The bigger companies in Rochester have downsized but with the down size, smallerr companies have been formed. Kodak has a great talent base of employees that have been absorbed by smaller companies. Kodak used to make their own machined parts now smaller companies in the area are making the parts for Kodak. Same is true for the other large companies in the area. The other positive point in Rochester the Colleges are growing and hiring new employees.

Regards,

Pete

Some of the companies have downsized over the years, what we refer to as the "Big 3" -- Kodak, Xerox, Bausch and Lomb. However, many smaller manufacturers have emerged and many of those job losses were absorbed. Rochester's economy and housing market have always remained fairly steady -- no big upswings and no big downturns. While we were envious a couple years ago of the appreciation experienced in other parts of the country, we're feeling pretty good today about our conservative and stable market.

If you search for properties, you will see there's quite a bit of inventory available at the price range you're looking for. I would suggest hiring a Realtor who knows the area and deals with a lot of investment properties. If you go to http://www.Nothnagle.com and do a search for Rochester (NE, NW, SE, SW - the city is broken up into four quadrants) in the $20k range, you'll see agents who have several listings and do a lot of business in this market. An email address and phone number is provided for the agents. If you want to be refered to an agent , you can call 1-866-295-MOVE or there's a "Live Chat" option from the website.

I've also included a link to one of our "Page 3" ads that appear in the local newspaper every Saturday. There are many more posted on our company website if you're interested in learning more about the market.

I live downstate in Long Island and have had properties in Rochester for several years. As ownership reduces, rentals increase there. One of the properties I owned was a 2-family purchased sight unseen from a source who was not reliable. We were happy to sell it soon after. The other property was a burnout that we had rebuilt and has been a rental ever since and we are seeing a return.

the key here is knowing who you are working with. I found a Realtor who really works hard for us and also manages the property for us in terms of being there for any issues that arise and seeing that they are cared for. I have referred several out of area/country buyers/investors to him and everyone is quite satisfied with how he works and what he has done for them.

If you contact me off line at Gail@GailGladstone.com, I will be happy to share his information with you.