out of state investing?

General Real Estate Investing
1

I am really new to this so I am just exploring my options. Do you guys invest only in states where you live or out of state too? I live in SF Bay Area so investing here requires lots of finances which I do not have (or am not willing to get into yet). I am interested in some other areas where houses are much, much, much cheaper but my friend is discouraging me from it. He says I should live where the property is. Any ideas?

thanks

2

I live in San Diego and the LTVs and cashflow are often non-existant which results in a ton of risk. I invest out of state in the Midwest where I can mitigate risk with tremendous cashflow, great LTVs, have multiple exit strategies all while getting great returns. There are challenges of course. It requires a solid and trustworthy team of agents, contractors, property managers, etc. Investing out of state opens up a lot of opportunity while most settle for the crummy deals in their local market. I am defintely not a do it yourselfer though, instead on entrepreneur. I hope this helps.

3

I am looking into Atlanta, GA, would you recommend any other good locations?

4

I did a ton of research on Where to Invest, wrote an article and posted my findings on the thread below. This should be helpful.

http://www.reiclub.com/forums/index.php/topic,43913.msg210540.html#msg210540

5

thanks a lot!

6

As a newbie I would discourage out of state investing for now.

Learn what works in your surrounding areas.
Have a local realtor pull areas for your in the surrounding cities or neighborhoods that have more median price ranged homes. Middle class- blue collar areas that are solid- with a nice mix of owners.

Most of your REI techniques work in this area, and you have better options when it comes to selling and renting

Dennis

7

I’m hands-on and like to have my properties within a 15 minute, or at most 30 minute, drive.

If you are going to invest further away than you can comfortably get there to manage the property, then you need a property manager. If you are going to hire a propery manager, there really isn’t any distance limit on where your properties are located.

8

if you are serious about the properties in other states, consider moving there for a time. This is your business you are talking about, not a hobby.

I would suggest you do your first 10 rentals close to you, 45 mins max. SD is a tough market for that.

Being SD is a wonderful place to live, you will have to ask yourself if you prefer cashflow and houses or beaches and sunshine.