Thoughts about moving to a new market?

[Cayce Fedberg]

Just curious on whether people have done it before actually owning any property? The area I live in the average home price is upwards of $700,000. I've looked through nearly every deal on the MLS in my area and haven't been able to make the numbers work.

Is it time to look at other markets?

[John Warren]

@Cayce Fedberg the main issue with investing in another market is that you have less control of your investment. I own a 20 unit in South Bend, Indiana, which is about 2 hours from my home in Chicago. My property management company does a decent job, but after a recent walk of the property I realized I needed to immediately fire my lawn company (he took a 3 week vacation in the summer!). I also realized that the management company had been doing slightly sub standard work, and a lot of the "repairs" were not of the quality I would prefer. 

For my apartments here in the Chicago area, I generally speaking have excellent contractors and have tight control over the quality of the apartments. This is much harder to do from afar. 

With that being said, my one out of state property has been very, very profitable, so I can live with things being a little less pristine than I would prefer. Seeing north of 20% COC helps with that!