During my visit to Troy, NY, I was enchanted, as usual, by the large number of stunning old brick industrial buildings sitting vacant along the Hudson River.
These buildings are the kind that developers die for… brick (in an area with no earthquakes!), high ceilings, original casement windows, etc.
You can take buildings like those and turn them into AMAZING loft complexes.
So, why aren’t I buying them all right now? Well, there’s the small problem of finding tenants.
LA has a growing, diverse economy and a growing population. This means that, so long as your units are in reasonable condition and priced appropriately, they will rent. The vacancy rate is, for all intents and purposes, zero.
This is not the case in Troy, NY. There, the economy has been stagnant for a long time and the population is likely shrinking. Yes, there are a limited number of people who have good taste and the money to pay reasonably high rents. But not enough to fill a whole bunch of huge loft buildings.
So, while I drool over them every time I’m in Troy, I’m not a buyer.