Franklin Investment Properties

With an impressive population of 33,092, the suburban city of Franklin, Massachusetts, is an excellent area in which to consider a Boston suburb property investment. This city, which rests about 42 miles outside of Boston, is one of the cities that is currently experiencing fairly rapid growth. In fact, in the past year, the town has seen home values increase by about 5.8 percent.

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As a result, this is a good time to consider an investment in this city; not only are residential prices in a good place, but commercial properties are also in a prime place for investment. Like 14 other municipalities in Massachusetts, this city has city forms of government but still is able to keep the town designation.

Residential and Commercial Investment Properties

If you're looking for investment in real estate in this area, it's important to know that 78.1 percent of the homes are owner-occupied and 21.9 percent are rented. As a result, there's quite a market for both single-family and multi-family properties. Both of these property types have their advantages:

Single-Family – Single-family properties can both be owned and rented, and both are fairly popular due to the fact that even rented homes have key features like lawns and parking spaces. Even with a large number of owners, the town has a vacancy rate of 3.1 percent, which means that there are homes available for purchase that can be converted into rental properties. With this kind of investment, you'll have month-to-month cash flow and aspects like maintenance are fairly easy to manage.

Conversely, these properties can also be sold rather than rented, and you can even upgrade the properties so that their values appreciate significantly.

Multi-Family – Multi-family properties can be converted from larger single-family properties as well. In any situation, these properties, which include duplexes, condos, townhomes, and apartments, are real portfolio builders and typically have excellent capitalization rates. You can even reside in these and simple charge monthly rent for every other unit.

In addition to these property types, commercial investment units can also be very profitable. These units include things like office space and retail space, and they have a tendency to have faster appreciation than other types of properties as well.

Real Estate Market Overview in Franklin Neighborhoods

Currently, this city is broken up into five distinct neighborhoods:

• Wadsworth – In the southernmost area of town, Wadsworth has properties with a median home value of $593,063, which is significantly more expensive than many other neighborhoods in town. Property here is predominantly owner-occupied. There's also a fair amount of new homes in the area.
• City Center – If you're looking for an area with a sizable rental population, City Center has a good mix of both owners and renters. This is a part of town with several historic residences as well.
• Dean College – Dean College has real estate that actually falls below the town median, and many of these are owner-occupied. This is a strong market for purchasing single-family properties.
• Country View Estates – If you're looking for relative investment safety, the vacancy rate of Country View Estates is a very low three percent. This area is primarily owner-occupied and has real estate prices that are well below the town median.
• Lincoln Street – For an even lower vacancy rate of 1.6 percent, Lincoln Street is an excellent neighborhood to invest, though real estate prices are slightly more expensive.

For the town as a whole, the median real estate price in this city is $424,900, which is very inexpensive for the Boston Metro area. In fact, the properties here have a price per square foot that's about $42 dollars cheaper than the area's average.

Choosing the Right Investment Property

When you're looking to invest in just about any property, you should always try to get the optimal capitalization rate. This rate is the rate at which you'll be able to pay off a property purchase based on factors like annual rent and annual expenses. Optimally, you'll want a capitalization rate that allows you to pay off the cost of a property within 10 to 20 years, but factors like market values of rent increasing can accelerate the capitalization rate somewhat.

Some investment properties like commercial real estate tend to have a good capitalization rate, but residential properties can also provide a fast return on investment if you are using forced appreciation or the market experiences a boom.

Different properties definitely have different rates of return, and some properties require a bit more patience, so find the one that best fits your needs and your patience level. In any situation, always try to seek out the properties with the highest amount of cash flow so that you can live comfortably and build your portfolio. If you have any questions about choosing the right investment type, reach out to us at Boston City Properties at 617-247-1933.

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