Determining Out of State Investing Areas

[Tim Lazor]

I am a new investor living and working in New York City. The market in my area of the country is obviously very expensive, so I feel that I will have more success with long distance investing. My goal right now is to find a smaller multi-family property in another state to buy and hold, possibly BRRRR if possible. I recently finished David Greene's book on long distance investing and I am looking to see how other investors have found which areas they ended up researching and investing. Have investors just picked an area of the country and then researched? Have investors found an agent first and then researched the area in which they operated? Any help would be much appreciated!!

Thanks! 

[Marc Rice]

@Tim Lazor I think the first step is to write out your goals for your properties you'd like to own. Do you want purely cash flow, a hybrid of cash flow and appreciation, or appreciation with little cash flow? It sounds like you have access to appreciation with little cash flow where you are now in NYC. If you're looking to BRRRR you're going to want a market with rising values and equity to unlock post rehab.

I then would identify a few markets that you think would match your market criteria and start to interview investor friendly agents in that local market. The agent will be key to connect you with all of the local resources in that location. And especially if you're BRRRRing you'll want a great local team.

I know you're still analyzing markets, but I'd strongly recommend looking at Columbus, OH for its hybrid of cash flow and appreciation. It's a massively growing city and a lot of out of state investors are flocking here for the growth.