Long distance rental vs Turnkey rental for newbie?

[Beth Barnes]

Hi everyone! I’m a new investor looking to get started on my first property. I live in a very expensive market (NYC) so I’m evaluating long distance markets as a place to get my feet wet on a smaller deal. I’ve been reading like crazy to learn as much as I can, but it’s still intimidating to find a deal, place an offer, manage rehab, find property management, etc with no experience.

Because of my inexperience, I’m also evaluating turnkey properties as an easier way to get started. Although the return would be lower, at least I could get started relatively easily without finding management and tenants, managing rehab etc, and hopefully I can gain confidence and learn along the way.

Does anyone have thoughts on a long distance rental vs a long distance turnkey as as a first investment?

For further context, I plan to purchase in early 2020, and by then I will have 50k saved as well as a 12k emergency fund.

[Noel R.]

I faced this question myself and opted to not go turnkey. I was able to purchase a home from 2000 miles away in Indy via a realtor, perform a property turn and get it leased for 16 months in the dead of winter. It was taxing on my emotions and a ton of lessons were learned along the way. I spent a ton of time researching and connecting before finding someone I trusted and pulling the trigger. @David Greene wrote a book on Long Distance Investing which I highly recommend. 

What are your goals for the next year? 3 years? Long term? Turnkey is a great way to jump in immediately but it too requires research and proper due diligence. If you are looking to truly get involved in REI and build a team in a market turnkey may or may not be the answer.

Mindset is a huge factor in this game. Know things will go wrong and it is how you adapt that will be the key to your long term success. Turnkey is easy but growth doesn't happen inside our comfort zones.