You can buy a house for $150k in Portland, but it won't be in a desirable or even up-and-coming area. If I had $150k to spend on rental properties, I'd probably buy two houses in Cleveland before I'd buy one house on SE 141st in Portland. I still think Portland is a great place to buy, but the price to get in is definitely high, unless you've got skills at picking up properties below retail. Wish I did!
Thank You. I guess I'll need to do more looking around. What makes these neighborhoods undesirable?
I live and work in one of the most crowded and crime prone locations in the US so I guess I just assumed anywhere in Portland would be a change from that. In LA, homes start at $370K or so.....well past what Im comfortable purchasing
But what people are willing to pay in rent is very different too.
Undesirable areas: high crime, high drugs, high gang activity, a good shake of human trafficking (look up Portland's rates on that... yeah), hard to get to transit, not close to grocery stores or other culture, loud, pollution, bad schools, lots of litter and graffiti. Not close to the cultural things that make portland so lovely. Either that or the suburbs, like Beaverton.
If you want an up and coming or already up and come area, you're probably talking more like $350k to get a single family home.