Can buy a property in one of two Neighborhood, one is mostly residential, the other is a mix between residential and commercial.
 Using a Throwaway account because my friends know my reddit and don't want them to know my financial situation.  
I want to invest my money, and I only have enough to buy 1 property - whether it is an office, or a house to rent out, it is a hot market. With the rent I can pay the mortgage +some, and any property I buy WILL go up in value.  
There is no doubt about the prices going up, currently there are many houses for sale as the project is still relatively new - however, there is a limited number of "seaview houses", and once those are sold out - even if they continue to create more houses those would remain in high demand.

My debate is whether or not I should invest in neighborhood A or B and this is where I am hoping some of you may witnessed or have experience with this.

Neighborhood A and B are on the same line and both have direct view to the sea. They are few minutes away from one another.

Neighborhood A has 7000 residential unites + an area for 10 medium stores (groceries, quality ice-cream shop, barber, jewelry). Project is practically done, most unites are already sold, neighbors are "good quality" (above average income and no criminal elements in the area) .

Neighborhood B will have 2000 residential unites, and a mall, and a collage (small), and a football stadium, and offices.

I am already living in neighborhood A, so I see what is happening and I really want to invest more in this "developing town" that I moved to.

The question that remains is should I invest in Area A, or Area B if I wanted a residential unit?

Do you have any experience or know which neighbor would like be more wanted?

From one side of it, I think that less residential unites in area B, means less properties would be available thus making them more expensive later on.  
However, with a stadium, and a mall, and collage - it is a bit less "quality of life" vs a place that was made to be a residential area.

I am trying to figure out where people would want to live more 10 years from now. So I figured I might ask you!

Whether or not I invest in an office vs a residential area in the end, would be a discussion for another day.
[{"id": "hywm7s0", "text": "What you invest in, and where you invest go hand in hand and cannot be separated.   Also investing in a commercial property vs. a single family home are wildly different with completely different risk/reward metrics.   If this is your first real estate investment I\u2019d advise the single family home.   They are ultimately a commodity where if you drop the rent low enough someone will eventually take it, and resale is typically a more direct process for the same reason.  For residential properties I personally like markets with a large transient population, limited rental options, and more growth drivers which sounds like neighborhood B based on your description.", "replies": [{"id": "hywrnj5", "text": "I completely agree with you, especially about the risk/reward metrics.\n\nI was initially interested in a commercial property (renting out offices).  \nHowever, I did not like the monthly costs (management fees, and monthly taxes) that I would have to pay on top of my mortgage if I failed to rent out the office.   \n\\-430$ management fee/m  \\*  \n\\-180$ Monthly property Tax \\*  \n\\-1100$ Mortgage   \n\n\nIf I manage to rent it, I won't have to pay the management fee, and the monthly property tax (the renter would pay it). But this would be the pay in   \n2650$ \n\nThe reward:  \nI would have an extra 1550$ per month (-mortgage)  \nThe property value will only go up. So worst case scenario I can hold it for a bit, and then resell it.  \nIf I did find a company to rent it out to, I am done-  companies won't want to switch offices, I could have a long term agreement and not worry about it. So long term low effort. \n\nThe Risk:  \nI will put most of my savings in,   \nIf I failed to rent it out I will be out 1710$ per month.   \n\n\nNeutral:  \nRented, I'd make my initial investment back in 15 years, and I'd be done with the mortgage then.   \nI am not sure how much more will be gone in tax. \n\n  \nPutting it down like this, it is clearly bad where the risk is higher than the reward. Thank you for the response. It helped me figure it out better, I had the number but for some reason I kept thinking I'd make x3 on renting out an office vs a residential home. But, not only I won't, the risk seems to not be worth it.. \n\nSo back to residential areas: \n\nThank you for your vote on B, will keep it in mind for more consideration.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hywmp4z", "text": "No recommendation but here are a few different ways to look at this that you might want to consider.\n\n1. I'd look at a few specific deals in each submarket with the cold eye of an accountant or banker - in other words stripping out the location what do the absolute numbers look like given your current thinking; existing rent, comparison market rent, downtime allowance, repairs, taxes (increased of course over current), capex reserves. \n2. Unless you have a crystal ball (if so please share with the group), do you still like either deal if the properties have little or even negative appreciation? Inflation? rate and refi risk?", "replies": [{"id": "hywth5b", "text": "Rent is currently closer to 1500$, this would be slightly above the mortgage I would get (1100$)  \n\n\nMy main interest isn't even with the mortgage, but the house property value.    \nIf I am certain about anything in my life, is that property values will only keep going up. We have a limited number of places to build, and a growing number of population.  \n\nCurrently I am in a \"developing town\", that borders a \"major city\", by borders, I mean it is literally 5 minutes away.   \nThis town has a bad reputation, however few developers are practically bulldozing all the old houses and creating new ones, and are selling those houses to certain type of people (well educated, works in the high tech sector) etc.  \nRight now, that bad reputation is there-but-not-there. People still have bad expectations of it, but there are also word of mouth of how great it is becoming.  \nSo it is a question of, would you go to the neighboring city, pay x2 to get an old fixerupper? (because that's the only option), or would you come to this new developing town, buy at half the price a new building now that it is proving to actually be great, rather than some poor village. \n\nSo, I am sure, in 10 years from the prices would only go up (they already went up by 100k within few months once one neighborhood project was declared \"sold out\").\n\nSo even if I wasn't able to rent it out, if I help on it and resold it later - id's till make a great investment. However, you are right I would need an advisor to look over the numbers better and give me a calculated estimates, rather than \"what the eyes can see\" which I am going for.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i048d86", "text": "Take this more as insight vs advice:\n\nYou want to consider your cash flows from both. This is going to come down to your personal preference and risk/tolerance- as well as a thousand other factors of how you want to see your life play out. \n\nNeighborhood A sounds like a solid area. You can find tenants, could open retail. Low crime is desirable, but if its near the sea, is it a luxury neighborhood? Will you have issues finding tenants in the event of an economic downturn?\n\nNeighborhood B has the opportunity for you to invest in student housing. This is as close as it gets to guaranteed income. Sure the longest a tenant will stay is only a few years, but there will always be more students coming in. Have a tight lease agreement for damages and stupid parties, but there are plenty of upsides. For students, you can have one unit and rent out each room individually for example. \n\nFeel free to reach out via DM. I have a couple clients from my mortgage company who work in student housing.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]