Property investors in the US can easily compare house prices, landlord friendliness and the state of employment across the country to help them decide where to invest – thanks to a new platform.
Rei Litics has been established by landlord Slim Geransar, who owns a trio of profitable properties in Indianapolis, Indiana, that he purchased after deciding that being a landlord in California wasn’t for him.
He said: “Because of my success I decided to launch a platform to help solve the very same question you and many others ask: ‘Where is the most profitable places to invest in real estate?’”
What the platform offers
The platform takes data from publicly available sources like the Census Bureau of Labour Statistics to show where house prices have increased or fallen, as well as the level of rents in a particular area.
The data is presented in the form of graphs and spreadsheets, with Geransar comparing it to stock exchange platforms where you can easily see historic stock prices.
There’s also local data on over 450 towns and cities. You can look at the unemployment rate over time, as well as the sectors where people are employed, to ascertain whether all the jobs are in one sector or if there’s more diversification.
Rei Litics assigns individual US states a rating between 1-5 based on how landlord friendly they are. Is it easy to evict a bad tenant? Is state-level regulation onerous or more hands off? How high are landlord taxes?
When searching for an investment property the platform also has a feature to help you discover areas by asking questions like your budget, and whether you’re looking for a property that has strong rental returns, or that will likely benefit from rising property prices.
Towns and states can be shortlisted, while you can take the cost of paying someone else to manage the property into account.
The platform launched in February 2024.
There is a free version where some of the features are removed, or landlords can sign up for $19 a month, or $179 a year.
Investment journey
Slim Geransar is originally from Australia and works in sales, while he was an investor in Los Angeles, California.
However his first foray into investing didn’t go as planned, as he struggled with difficult tenants and a challenging regulatory environment.
He said: “I had so many issues I almost gave up on real estate investing.
“I had a tenant demand I fix everything including tiny scratches, and they wouldn’t pay until I fixed everything.
“It was also very difficult to evict tenants in California – I ended up having to pay them to leave.”
Even worse, when he wanted to sell the LA property a lawsuit was filed against the housing association that managed the building, which meant potential buyers wouldn’t be able to get a mortgage on the apartment. As a result he ended up selling for 10% below the market rate to a cash buyer.
Researching the market
Geransar was determined to be more careful in his second venture into investing, however he checked various forums and found there was no consistency in terms of places where people recommended buying.
Eventually he undertook his own data analysis, which he used to compare cities, while looking for a state more friendly to landlords than California.
He eventually decided Indianapolis in Indiana was a good place to invest, so he sold the LA property for $430,000 and used the proceeds to buy three properties in Indianapolis with home loans.
Since then, he has been vindicated, as property prices have risen in Indianapolis compared to Los Angeles.
Next steps
Rei Litics is currently looking to attract users to the platform to get feedback and keep improving the service.
After that, the next phase is building partnerships with regional estate agents, connecting investors with real estate professionals in local areas, while providing another income stream for the platform.
Geransar added: “When investing in real estate, don’t limit yourself to areas where you live as it may not yield the best returns.
“Take the time to do some research and find what areas are best suited to you. Getting opinions of others is great, but using data to make strategic decisions is invaluable.”
