Fork in the Road

[Collin Jacobsen]

Hello,

I have come across the first fork in the road on my journey. I started investing with a house hack my sophomore year of college. After two years of my roommate and I living in the home we are planning on moving in May. My roommate is graduating from college and I am looking for a fresh start. The househack is located in Iowa City and I am planning on moving back to Des Moines. The two cities are roughly two hours apart. I feel as though Des Moines has more job opportunities and I would like to live closer to my family. I am not sure if I should look to continue investing in Iowa City or start to invest in Des Moines. 

My current plan is to rent out my house hack and move to Des Moines. I am a little concerned about managing my first rental two hours away. I have been working in property management for a year and feel I have enough knowledge to manage the rental, I know I still have lots to learn. I plan on finding another job in property management once moving to Des Moines and continuing to save money for my next investment. 

I am familiar with the Iowa City market and feel I could make better investments in Iowa City, but I would love to live in Des Moines. I am hoping to learn the Des Moines market and eventually start investing in Des Moines. I believe the house hack I purchased was a very sound investment and don't want to sell it, but at the same time I don't want to deal with the hassle of having to manage one small rental two hours away from where I live. Does anyone have any advice for me? Any bit of information would be extremely appreciated.

[Greg W.]

I would second Tyler's suggestion. It's not terribly difficult to manage from a distance. I do it from halfway across the country for multiple properties. You need to find your handyman, plumber, hvac person, and maybe a cleaner, depending if that's needed. When you find a bigger, better place near you, then you can 1031 into it, if you don't want to hold it any longer.