Investing out of state

[Oscar Campos]

Hi there I'm looking to invest out of state I live in San Francisco Bay Area it's not cashflow positive any good stories.

[Lisa Phillips]

@Aaron Mazzrillo It would be great if you could describe how he finds deals others can't. That information would be worth its weight in gold :-)

@Dawn Anastasi I have the same investment strategy as you! People always look at me with amazement when I tell them 30k houses exist, and are profitable!

@Oscar Campos back to your orginal question, here are some tips ive learned about investing out of state. I hope any of this will help you:
I invest outside of where i live, and I suggest it for everyone with a few caveats

1) Go out and visit the area. It doesnt have to be across the country, you can go into Reno, NV or Carson City and find affordable housing. Is that within driving distance of 1-1.5 hr of you? With the state capital there, and a university, and lower taxes, you can't ask for much more in a low cost rental property. Mitigate the amount of visits this by coming up with a solid list of candidates to look at when you come. If you only have a Saturday and Sunday, you should look at at least 14+ homes. If you need to get a few realtors and section them in blocks of 4 hours to not wear them out.

2) Since you're open to travel, check out state and local politics. The gist is that if you have a choice of municipality, take into account Red State/Blue State politics. The bluer the state, the more risks you have on your real estate because the number of fines/payments to be made, and entities to be paid under threat of lein action escalates by the state. A city that doesn't know how to contain spending, and ONLY knows how to tax the populace, are always aiming to to hit property owners with fees to be paid to code enforcement, environment registration, lead registrations, and property taxes.

3) Thirdly, the US has so many different city states and different microcosms, that its easy to use the internet to flesh out a great list of potential, affordable real estate investments that give high rents. I have all of these sites up when searching for 1-Local Realty MLS (local vs national also has cheaper deals) 2-Crime Reports (at my price point, i want ot make sure you're only choosing "safe" neighborhoods and most municipalities have some sort of online presence with 30-60 days of crime reports) 3-Rentometer (this is a pretty accurate rent aggregator to tell you the low/medium/high rents for that address 4- Craigslist to see what type of rental activity is listed there.

4) While you're there, meet up with some turnkey managers and property managers. If you like their selection and feel that they are honest with you, they are a great lead for investors like me who decide to sell their properties for whatever reason, and can hand them over tenant in all. My current property managers all send me listings that current landlords are selling.

5) When looking for maintaining the property, only look at highly rated/accredited GCs or Property Managers.I have found that the GC or PMs that come with higher ratings, come with a higher price tag, but you get the quality you want. From there, you can structure a solid contract that takes care of your needs in case things do not go according to the statement of work.

When I go to a new city, i usually only visit the area about 2-3 times before I bid/win a property, and then 1 a week to check up on contractors. If you get a quality GM who sends pictures every week of work completed, with a good contract, you can break that down to visiting 1 a month. The expenses are deductible, and I usually use the time to explore the city and check out new restaurants...i love my job :-)

All in all, don't be hesitant to look at homes within an hour's drive that offer low cost housing and high rents. I live in DC, and I have properties within 1-1.5hr from me that I purchased for under 30k and rent for $900+

Good luck!