Buy and Hold Rental Property Advice

[Phil LeNeveu]

Hi All,

I am relatively new to the site, in the sense that I have read hundred of forums and listened to countless podcast episodes in order to learn the fundamental background information needed to be able to post (my first or second post ever). 

I guess my real question or discussion is I would love to hear about anyone on here who was deciding between turnkey (yes i am aware there are many threads on this) or just going on zillow / realtor.com, etc and finding a home for sale in the areas they are interested buy it and manage it themselves as a buy and hold long investor. Which seems to be easier and is there really a big difference in fees other than the management fees? I am interested in a couple cities around the USA (all out of state) Columbus, Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston, and Portland Maine areas and their suburbs. 

A bit of background about myself: 

I am a recent post graduate who lives and works in Boston.

I work full time, really enjoy my job and am not planning on quitting or switching over to real estate full time and i really just want passive income so please don't barrage me with comments showing how flipping and rehabbing is so much better. I have no interest in either at this point in my life due to work hours constraints.

tldr: Turnkey & management vs Zillow property purchase and self manage out of state while working full time

Thanks 

[Rod Joseph]

If those were my only choices, 1)Turnkey and 2)Zillow/Realtor.com,  I would choose turnkey.

With a reputable Turnkey operation, there is hope that the property was bought at the right price, repaired properly and have tenants.  So it is ready to go.  So now you have a property that is below market value in pretty good shape and instantly making money from Day 1.

With Zillow/Realtor.com, you have to negotiate the price, fix up the property if needed and then maybe have to get tenants in place.  Any miscalculations in those steps and you are losing money from Day 1.