Do you think it is wise to invest in an area that you do not currently live in or will not in the future? I am thinking of purchasing an investment on the other side of the country. Am I making things more difficult for myself then need be?
Most people would say your crazy. I believe however as long as you have rock solid management to take care of your property then there shouldn’t be a problem.
there are so many different opinions - basically, the rule that most will tell you is invest where you are familiar with the area at the very least.
i am struggling with this same thing. i live on Long Island - the area where I live will take me 2 years to actually invest in, unless i take on partners with cash to invest with. it’s ridiculous here, so i decide to look in an area where i am somewhat familiar with (i lived there a few years ago) and it is about 700 miles from me.
everyone or most say don’t do it.
invest in your own backyard.
who the f knows at this point - half the time i feel fellow investors tell you these things cuz you may be eyeing their backyard.
but all things considered, for me, i look at my operation and it’s a joke compared to what well-established rei’s are doing and have been doing for quite sometime - so i’m NO threat whatsoever, but ya never know - IBM kicked Bill Gates’ idea out of the window and scoffed at him - so continuously pouring the “doom and gloom” on a potential threat or overloading them with so much information with the intent of crushing their ambitions may be a good strategy…
i just got off the phone with a SCORE counselor who is a rei. i told him i wanted to invest in a reo (i’ve been writing about it in several previous posts) in another state.
he told me what he thought and basically shot it to hell…oh yeah, this state happens to be where he lives and invests…
???
i wrote the above wrong - i’m NOT comparing myself to Bill Gates, that’s quite laughable though. it just came out wrong. 
i’ll be off here for a while.
the short answer is you need to really understand the market (and what drives it) and have a good team in place at that location. This applies for local and out of state. For the latter situation, it is a very time consuming process and somewhat a process of trial and error.
If you plan on investing in any area where you cannot spend the time proper to manage/know the area well, then you need to setup a team of people in that area that you can trust, or better still, line up a partner in that area that IS knowledgable of the area, wh. ich I believe you’ve been offered, if memory serves. 
who the f knows at this point - half the time i feel fellow investors tell you these things cuz you may be eyeing their backyard.
Unfortunately, in a lot of instances, you are correct. You won’t get enough good information from some investors because they feel that you are “competition.” I don’t believe that competition exists in RE investing. There are simply too many ways to do things and too many opportunities out there for there really to be competition. Besides, for a truly experienced REI that teaches you the ropes, you won’t even be considered competition for years to come.
Raj