Looking to put IRA money to work? There are some terrific opportunities for Real Estate IRA investors right here in upstate Carolina.

Blessed with unparalleled natural beauty, all four seasons but relatively mild weather, distance from coastal hurricanes and a modest cost of living in upstate North Carolina and South Carolina make it advantageous for real estate investors of all kinds. The upstate areas of the Carolinas are attracting investment, population growth, tourism, but they remain very affordable, and are all around terrific places to raise a family.

This week, we’re going to focus on the beautiful area around Greenville, South Carolina including Greenville, Pickens and Laurens counties. With a cost of living well below the national average, a dollar of investment goes a long way in the area. But, of course, from an investment perspective, you’ll want to concentrate on the fat part of the Bell Curve, when it comes to housing affordability.

Fortunately, we have some very good data, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau and the Home Builders Association of Greenville, as well as the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors and the Upstate Mortgage Lenders Association to help inform your investment strategy.

Income and Household Data

According to the HBAG report, the median home value in the Greenville tri-county area is about $142,200. The median income of homeowners in the area was $57,700, so whatever you buy in the middle class neighborhoods of the county, you can use that figure to reverse engineer what most lenders will consider affordable, and key your Real Estate IRA investing strategy from that point.

The median price for a new home in the greater Greenville area was $277,468, which requires an income to qualify to purchase the home of about $68,000. About a third of households in the area (34 percent) can potentially qualify for the median-priced new home. Which still makes for a very lively market with a lot of upside potential.

The homeowner vacancy rate in the area is 2.3 percent, but the rental vacancy rate is 8.3 percent. Which is manageable and not bad at all for a smaller city.

The home value breakdown among owner-occupied units is as follows:

< $100k                                  31.8%

$100k-$200k                         39.5%

$200k-$499,999                    24.2%

$500k $1M                             3.5%

> $1M                                     1%

Rental data

Only 17.4 percent of renters in the area are paying more than $1,000 per month to rent their primary residence. 17.2 percent are paying less than $500 per month. The bulk of renters in the area, naturally, are paying between $500 and $999 per month, according to the report.

This roughly jibes with our own experience, and with published monthly rent figures at sites like rentjungle.com, which pegs the average rent within 10 miles of Greenville, SC at $812 per month, and 2-bedroom apartments at $965.

RentJungle.com also notes a substantial increase in area rents over the last six months, with rents climbing by $134 per month, or 15.3 percent on average, between February and August 2015 – the last month for which data is available.

So momentum in the area is clearly working on behalf of the landlord/real estate investor.

If you’re in or near Greenville, South Carolina, or you just want to learn more about how you can leverage the tax benefits of your IRA to invest profitably in any real estate, call us today for a no-obligation consultation. American IRA, LLC, is one of the leading providers of administrative services for Real Estate IRA investors in the country – and we’re right here in the upstate Carolinas.

You can call us toll-free at 866-7500-IRA(972), or peruse our extensive online library of information at www.americanira.com.

You can also go to the Upstate Carolina Real Estate Investors Association meeting this November 16^th. American IRA’s Traci Murdock, Vice President of Compliance here at American IRA, will also be in attendance. Please come and introduce yourself to Traci!

Note that there’s a $15 charge to cover room costs for non-members. Members attend free (they pay via their membership dues, but membership is well worth it for serious real estate investors).

We hope to see you there!