Rent To Retirement How Does It Really Work?

[Austin Shade]

Hi there, My name is Austin I’m new to the Bigger Pockets world and I’m looking to buy my first property this year within the next 6 months if possible. I’m 23 years old I’ve been saving money for a property since I was 17. I live in Southern California where the market is extremely saturated, prices are high, and cash flow is extremely difficult. I have enough money to get something out here but the numbers make more sense out of state and there are more cash flow properties in places like Florida,

Missouri, Ohio, and Alabama etc. So I’ve come to the conclusion that It would be the smartest move to buy a property in another state and continue to live here in California. My question is in regards to the service that Bigger Pockets always promotes on every podcast, Rent to Retirement. So I understand they are turnkey properties and I recently just learned what that means, but I started doing my research on new construction homes in Florida and I really like them I found a good price and it says it would cash flow $359/month or $4,308/annually. I found this to be amazing and I have my sights locked on this property, but then I was on YouTube yesterday on the Bigger Pockets channel looking for a video where they went more in depth over this service. I didn’t find that, but I did find a video basically going over the risks and dangers of getting into turn key real estate. Now I am in no way questioning the integrity of Bigger Pockets, but I’m new into real estate and I’m trying to educate and make informed decisions. So my question is Is Rent To Retirement a smart investment? Or Should I buy a piece of property on my own terms and renovate it and all that? Are they a legit service? Are there hidden fees? Should a turnkey be my first buy? What are the PROS & CONS of using this service? Also am I in charge of getting tenants or do they do that as well? In the video Brandon was saying you can’t trust turnkey companies numbers and I sat down and crunch the numbers and it all came together. I guess all I’m asking for is some guidance. I’m really excited to jump head first into real estate and take it head on but I just don’t want to make a move with a lack of understanding of this specific service. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated

-Austin Shade

[Zach Lemaster]

@Austin Shade

Yes, we are a legit service.  I'm not sure what you mean by this, or what videos you are referring to by our team, or by any others.  We have hundreds of positive reviews from clients that have worked with us if you do some research on this site, and we've helped hundreds of investors build very successful rental portfolios for many years.  I've included some links for you below that show some of this discussion on the forums already that would be good to reach through.  @Joseph Schweizer can you provide some insight here.  

We do have FL new builds that are available, and probably one of the best TK investments for a newbie by going with a new build.  Whether or not going TK for your first property is completely a decision you need to make based on your investments goals, experience level, resources available, time you want to be involved, areas you want to invest in, etc.  

The most successful investors invest in the markets where they can get the best returns, and should be diversified across multiple markets. Regardless of where you invest it is essential that you have the right team to assist you in building a successful portfolio. It doesn't really matter if you start locally, or not. The main point is that you get started. If your local market is so expensive that it will take you years to save up for a downpayment then I would highly encourage you to look at a market you can invest in sooner. If it takes you multiple years to save up money to invest those are valuable years lost of cash flow, tax benefits/depreciation, appreciation & debt reduction by the tenant paying the loan down. It's also years lost of education, which is the most valuable resource to help you be successful long term. If you truly want to invest locally, but don't have the capital to then use real estate investing out of state to help you build equity over time & save up your cash flow to invest locally. Just my two cents on the matter. We look forward to connecting with you!

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/518583-feedback-on-renttoretirement-and-zach-lemaster

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/765347-rent-to-retirement-review

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/850/topics/895660-my-first-investment-property-an-out-of-state-deal

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/893621-rent-to-retirement-review?highlight_post=5222888&page=1#p5222888

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/915728-experience-with-rent-to-retirement-turnkey?page=1#p5345200

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/808479-rent-to-retirement-experiences

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/533693-anyone-worked-with-renttoretirement-turnkey

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/581730-rent-to-retirement-zach

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/874096-reviews-on-r2r-and-nch?page=1&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Transactional:%20topic_notification&utm_content=Transactional#p5123754

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/883772-turnkey-investing-renttoretirement-feedback-reviews?highlight_post=5171720&page=1#p5171720

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references