David-
If you're still looking, I'd love to help. I currently have 3 properties listed in that area. I am president of the NYS Real Estate Investors Association and have over 25 years of experience in purchasing investment properties. Give me a call at 724-5831 or email me at BobEberle@KW.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Before you purchase anything, you might consider attending one of the local REI clubs in your area. This way you could bounce your excellent idea off of some more seasoned investors. They can help you to find and analyze the deal the right way, and they can help you to avoid buying the property the wrong way (which so many 'so called' investors did over the past few years--which is why they're getting killed now in this market).

Many people say that the 3 most important things about real estate are: location, location, and location. However, that's not entirely correct. Although location is important, any property in any location can be a good/bad investment. The only way for one to determine whether a specific property will be a good/bad investment is to run the numbers. After having run the numbers, one could tweak the numbers for a bad investment to re-structure the deal so that it will be a good investment too.

You already know the general location where you'd like to buy. Now, you need to find a good agent (whom you can also find via the REI club), and you need to learn how to run the numbers.

David, just about anywhere in the Union Triangle Neighborhood is great for student rentals... the closer to the campus, the better. For GE Interns, choose an attractive neighborhood within 3 miles of the main plant or the R&D Center.

Because you work for GE, you might want to focus on renting to GE interns. If you do rent to GE people, however, you'll want to focus on just that. I think you may run into problems if you try to combine students and working adults in the same building. They keep different hours and have very different lifestyles.

Jackie

Dave,

i'm not familiar with the area - but in general i can say that it's a great idea for you to consider investing in real estate!