Matthew: Hey, everybody. This video is “Best Places to Invest in Little Rock Arkansas.”
I am Matthew Whitaker and today I am with Victoria Wilbanks, the team leader for gkhouses in Little Rock. Hey, Victoria.
Victoria: Hey, how’s it going?
Matthew: It is great. I’m super pumped to talk to you about investing in Little Rock.
What I’m going to do, we’re going to jump right in and I’m going to share my screen and we’re going to jump into some areas that you want to talk about as great places to invest in Little Rock.
Table of Contents
Victoria: Yeah. So Little Rock’s gonna be in the very middle of the state.
It’s the biggest city in Arkansas, so it is a great investment opportunity.
We are about three hours from Fort Smith, so that’s going to be on the Oklahoma border.
And then we’re about a little over two hours from Memphis on the Tennessee border and we’re about five hours from Dallas.
So, we are really kind of this hub in the middle of Arkansas.
We’re the only city, so obviously, we have a bigger population and that kind of thing here, so that’s kind of where it is.
Matthew: Cool, we’re super excited. We’re going to jump into some areas.
Victoria: Yeah, so it’s going to be kind of hug your 430 interstate there.
It’s really going to be anything West of 430, South of the river, not all the way down to Interstate 30 on the bottom, just kind of cut that in half, that area there.
West Little Rock’s going to be your higher rent ranges and nicer houses overall.
Little Rock does seem to be a street-by-street city so sometimes investing can get a little tricky because you really want to check on the street that it’s on and the size of the houses and that kind of thing.
You’re going to get your newer houses in this area.
Just in the last couple of years, it’s really expanded even further West from 430, even into a little bit more of like a country setting even further West there.
Victoria: It’s definitely going to depend on the house. You’re going to get your bigger properties in this area.
So let’s say a three-bedroom, two-bath house, you’re looking at around at least 1,200.
Really just goes up from there, like I said, depending on the house, definitely and the age of the house and all that.
But you’re definitely going to get your highest rents probably within Little Rock in West Little Rock. It’s going to be your prime area for that.
Victoria: So this is going to be your…probably one of your safer parts of Little Rock.
Definitely the most desired part of Little Rock probably.
This is going to be where your working professionals are going to live, your families are going to live, that kind of thing.
Definitely, anybody that can afford the rent, but maybe isn’t ready to buy, that’s going to be kind of your person that’s going to rent in West Little Rock.
Matthew: Do these people, you said professionals, do they generally work kind of in town?
If so, how long does it take them to get to downtown from this West Little Rock area?
Victoria: West Little Rock is literally just a jump on 630 to get downtown, so there’s definitely going to be a lot of business in West Little Rock.
Its kind of is its own little hub, so you really kinda have your West Little Rock hub and then you’re gonna have your downtown hub.
So they are going to, obviously, a bunch of people are going to work downtown, you’re probably jumping on 630 right there 15 minutes from downtown, 20 minutes, I mean, Little Rock’s a little city so it’s really not far very far at all.
Matthew: Yeah, not bad at all. Awesome. So that area is West Little Rock.
Victoria: Yes.
Matthew: Cool, so tell me about it.
Victoria: So Maumelle is going to be your…it’s going to be, like, your first suburb, if you can, for Little Rock.
Maumelle has generally in the past been your higher income, kind of the people who want to leave near the city but wanted to be out a little way.
It is just across the river, so it is an easy commute to the city.
But Maumelle is…it does get a little bit of your North Little Rock traffic in there too because it is right on I-40, which is going to take you right to North Little Rock without having to cross the river and stuff like that.
So Maumelle is going to be your higher rents also, so you can kind of group it in your…kind of the same rent range as West Little Rock.
Of course, again, it’s going to depend on the house, but mostly your 1,200 and above for your three-bedroom, two-bath house, which is pretty standard.
I would say probably your 12 to 15 really.
In Maumelle, you’re not really going to get above 15 just because it isn’t “Little Rock.”
Matthew: And would you say it is a similar demographics in terms of like professionals that are renting in West Little Rock as in Maumelle?
Victoria: I would say it’s pretty close.
I think you get a little bit more of, like I said, your North Little Rock crowd living in Maumelle that don’t want to leave in North Little Rock, so you do get a little bit.
I think that’s the only reason like maybe the rent isn’t quite as much as what it could possibly be in West Little Rock is because you do have maybe like your…more of your blue-collar kind of people living in Maumelle too.
There’s A Little More Of A Mixture.
Matthew: Okay, awesome. So, let’s jump into the next one which is Southwest Little Rock.
I’m going to come down here. And I’m going to zoom in a little bit on Little Rock.
That is this area right here below 630, right?
Victoria: Yes. So it’s actually going to be…you can kind of cut it on this map right below the 630 mark to the West and then down, just a little bit south of 630 but east of 430…or south of 30, I’m sorry.
So that area right there. And so, not quite that far. So you’re going to go down…
Victoria: North of 30, a little bit South of 30 and basically cut it in half under the 630 sign to 430.
Matthew: Okay.
Victoria: So really your Southwest Little Rock is going to be your older homes.
This is where you get into more of your 3/1s your 2/1s, those kinds of things.
So your rent range for these is going to be much significantly lower than the rest of Little Rock really.
This is where you’re going to get a lot of your older homes that maybe need a little bit more work.
The neighborhoods aren’t going to bring quite as much rent as probably anywhere else in Little Rock.
You get a little bit more of your higher crimes in these areas, but are great for investing if you’re looking at doing maybe a little bit lower.
Maybe your budget to purchase a house is a little bit lower and stuff like that, this is going to be that area for sure.
Victoria: Yeah. Definitely going to be more of your C-class neighborhood, probably the most concentrated C-class neighborhoods in all of Little Rock.
Matthew: Awesome. Okay. And then rent ranges in there, are we talking about…give me a range, top to bottom.
Victoria: This is probably going to be anywhere from your one-bedroom, one-bath duplexes.
Which are going to be 395, 400 to around 800, maybe 850 if it’s maybe the first time a four-bedroom over here, but definitely going to be.
I wouldn’t think anything above 850 and 850 is going to be a big house in this area.
Victoria: This is going to kind of more of your downtown area.
So this is really going to go anywhere South of 630 all the way to downtown just North of 30.
This is, again, going to be more of your B to C-class areas…South of there.
Yes, South of 630. So you’re gonna be more of your C-class, some of your B-class.
Now, this is a great investment area because they are redoing so many houses in this area. It really is an up and coming area.
There’s a lot of investors in here that are going in flipping these houses one, two, they’re fixing these older houses that are completely remodeled and are really driving up this area.
This is awesome especially for the rental game in this because these rents were five years ago were 600 bucks are now 900 bucks.
Matthew: Nice.
Victoria: So again, this is going to go really, a street-by-street area down here because it is so different down there now than what it was five years ago.
It’s crazy, one street you’re going to get a house that is not updated since maybe the late ’90s and it’s going to rent for 600 bucks.
The next street over you’re going to get a house that was remodeled last year that’s going to rent for 900 to 1,000 bucks.
Just really depending on what street it’s on and what the neighborhood’s like and that kind of thing.
You still definitely have your C-class properties in here, so you are going to have…because it is downtown, it is a little bit higher crime area, so you do tend to get a little bit of your C-class properties in the mix of all of this too.
So this is…we were kind of talking a little bit before we got cranked up.
This kind of corridor from North Little Rock to Jacksonville to Cabot.
You said it’s kind of a very similar corridor. Could you kind of talk about that area?
Victoria: Yeah. So North Little Rock, it is very separate from Little Rock.
This is something a lot of people don’t understand when they’re investing here.
Your rent ranges between Little Rock and North Little Rock are very different.
North Little Rock, your rent is not going to be quite as expensive as what it is in Little Rock especially when there’s not really an area of North Little Rock that is like West Little Rock.
So West Little Rock being your higher rent, your higher rent’s not going to be…that part of North Little Rock is really going to be your Maumelle area.
So really the core of North Little Rock, if it’s a true North Little Rock address, you’re going to get more of your class-B and class-C properties, just like I said, depending on the house and depending on the area of North Little Rock.
It’s much smaller, there’s not really a metro area of North Little Rock, so you kind of get that into your Sherwood-Jacksonville-Cabot areas.
So your rent, until you really get to Cabot, is really going to be your class-B and C properties and then in Cabot, you might have a few class-A properties thrown in there.
Cabot is kind of the area where a lot of people have moved out to to be really out of the city and it kind of gets…there are some super nice properties up there that rent for 1,400, 1,300 -1,400 but maybe if that house was in West Little Rock, you’ll see a more $1,800 to $2,000.
Victoria: Absolutely.
Matthew: Gotcha.
Victoria: Yeah, absolutely. So it really, as I said, depends on the property and all that, but really Jacksonville, Sherwood, North Little Rock is great. You can get a steal on a property there.
Your rent on a class-B property is around maybe about $1000 where maybe a class-B property in Little Rock might be 1,100 maybe 900…
I’m sorry…in Sherwood-Jacksonville area, North Little Rock might be like 900 to 1,000 where maybe if it was in Little Rock might be 1,100, 1,200.
But really, that’s kind of the cap on anything there that I’ve ever seen.
Matthew: Awesome. Now I’m going to zoom out a little bit and go to our next.
How far are we talking about from downtown Little Rock to Benton and Bryant?
Victoria: So, from downtown Little Rock, you’re probably looking at about 30 minutes probably to Bryant and then probably another…
Matthew: So people still live out here and can still mosey on into work up here.
Victoria: Yes, totally. This is a major area for people to commute in.
You can definitely tell that in the traffic.
So Benton and Bryant areas are going to be a ton of your class-B properties.
There’s very few class-Cs, probably a few class-As, but again, just like I was talking about in Cabot, your prices are not going to be the same for your class-A properties in Little Rock.
Really for your Brenton-Bryant area, you’re looking for anywhere from 800 to probably maxed out at about 1,200 really for about a class-A property out there.
Not a ton of older homes. This has been recently developed I would say, the late ’90s.
It was a really big era for this to kind of expand out, so there’s not a ton of older homes like in Southwest Little Rock or anything like that.
It’s going to be 30, maybe some 40-year-old houses out there for an investment property or newer.
So you’re not going to get a ton of older homes.
Matthew: So it makes sense that the city kind of expanded this way.
Victoria: Yeah.
VIctoria: So this is, I think, an area that investors are starting to get into.
It’s definitely been small-town Arkansas for a while. It is called the “City of Colleges.”
There are three colleges there, so it’s definitely a huge rental area especially for students.
It is kind of a hub anywhere but it’s kind of the first city-ish place that you hit coming from the West, so going East on 40, which is going to be that major interstate there.
You hit Fort Smith and then you’re going to hit Russelville, which is a smaller town, and then Conway.
So it’s kind of that first little spot right outside of Little Rock.
A lot of people commute between Conway and Little Rock every day. It’s a major commute.
It’s only about 30 minutes, so it’s really not bad at all.
But Conway, you kind of get a double shot of goodness there because you do have the college students, so you have your 3/1 houses that are great for that college kids.
And then you’re also going to get the family that maybe dad works in Little Rock, doesn’t want to live there, doesn’t want to move the family there, so you kind of get that.
And really, Conway’s going to be your class B than anything else.
I think it has class A, I don’t know if investing in a class-A property in Conway is super profitable.
I don’t think we’re seeing as many people looking for that there just because of the demographics of people that live there, but definitely more of your class B.
Rents are going to be kind of the same as Brenton-Bryant, that kind of very similar market, kind of like your 800 to 1,100 dollar a month for like your 3/1s basically there and 3/2s.
Matthew: All right. Very good. Well, I’m going to stop sharing, bring back us up.
So, if someone wanted to get, find out more information, because what you want to be is a resource for anybody who wants to know about best places to invest in Little Rock, how would they get in touch with you?
Victoria: You can actually call our office.
The phone number is 501-232-0676 and you can ask me or ask for anybody in our sales department there and they could help you out.
Matthew: Awesome. Well, we love the help.
Thank you so much, Victoria, for walking us through this video. I’m super excited about it and super excited about people investing in Little Rock.
Victoria: Yeah, absolutely.
Matthew is the CEO of Evernest. He is a student of the book Good to Great and is passionate about building the best property management company on the planet (and maybe even the universe if Elon Musk will hurry up). You can usually find Matthew at the baseball field with his son, at a dance recital with his daughter, or at his favorite restaurant with his wife, when he’s not in the office. And if you can’t find him in any of those places, it probably means he’s traveling.
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