First time REI out of state investor

[Byoung Bae]

I have a goal to buy my first investment real estate property in 2025. I live in CA and own my primary residence. I am not interested house-hacking. Primary goal for investing in real estate to grow my wealth (not to replace my W2 job).

As the first investment, I want a safer investment with a goal to break even in 12 months and focus on learning & long-term cashflow/appreciation. My budget for the first property is $50k ~ $100k. With this budget and my goals, I ruled out CA and looking out of state. With my budget and goals, I am looking at SFR in Indianapolis and Michigan (Detroit area, Lansing). Any suggestions on how to get started, some risks to be aware of?

I am reading BiggerPockets forum and I get a lot of information, with somewhat divergent recommendations. Some specific questions I have:

1. What should be the number first step after picking a market? I am looking at listings online, running my numbers. Many of them barely hit the "1% rule".

2. Assuming I purchased a property, how do I find renters? Do I lean 100% on the property manager to find renters? How do I know the vacancy rate / how long it took to find renters for comparable properties? This would be one of the most important inputs for "running your numbers".

3. Many suggest to "build a team" for out of state investor (e.g. realor, PM, handyman, etc). How do I go about doing this? Who is the most important member/first I should focus on?

Any other generic recommendation / tips are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Nicholas L.]

@Byoung Bae

just for a countervailing perspective - the macro environment is just about the worst it could possibly be right now for you to pick a random market in a random state and shell out $50K or more to get a random property and then turn it over to random people you haven't met.  

i appreciate you mentioning that you're OK with breaking even - i believe it means that you may have more reasonable expectations than many others in your position - but the market is just tough right now. there is tremendous, tremendous demand for inventory - by homeowners, by investors, small and large. that means - no offense - anything that you can get without doing any work, or anything that someone serves up to you on a platter, or anything on the MLS - has been passed on by lots of other potential buyers.

so with that said, here are my answers.

0. read this thread.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1159104-overl...

1. don't pick a random market. pick one you have ties to or know well or can drive to or hope to move to eventually or like to vacation in.

2. do some more reading - books, forums.  or better yet, go to the market you pick in person, and talk to the people you'll be turning your investment over to in person.

3. yes, you need a team.  i'd start with realtor, lender and PM.  i'd meet people in person (did i mention being in person?)

hope this helps

not trying to be discouraging

just realistic