Spend time finding PM’s or Properties first?

[Lauren Coles]

My fiancé and I are looking to get into multi-family investing, but not sure how to take the first step. One thing that has come up quite often in trainings, books, webinars, etc is it’s almost more important to find a good property manager than a good property (especially as out of state owners). We live in ND but we are open to properties all over the country AS LONG AS we can find a good property manager. 

What is your opinion on the subject? Should we continue looking at units around the country and then hope there’s a good property manager around? Or should we invest our time finding a decent property management company and then finding units around their area? 

[Stuart Udis]

As someone interested in purchasing your first property you should not be looking at investment opportunities all over the country & are too scattered with your approach. I've always believed it's best to acquire your first property in your own market but if you happen to be in a market where that's not possible, select a market that has strong fundamentals, arrive at an investment thesis and focus there. Once you narrow in on a market, your focus should be on the real estate. I don't care how proficient the property manager is, if the underlying real estate is not purchased correctly it will be a bad investment. Before you worry about a PM, focus on the professionals that will help secure & finance the correct property (Brokers, Contractors, if you are seeking value-add opportunities, attorneys, lenders).