Advice for Military Member interested in a Turn Key solution

[Brandon Tahincioglu]

Hello Bigger Pockets!

I'll cut right to the chase so here are the facts:

• I am in the Coast Guard.
• I have one rental in the State of Maine for the past 1 1/2 Years which used to be my primary residence.  I have been doing well and the experience has been great.
• I now live in NJ.
• I have no debt other than the mortgage on the rental, and I have disposable income to invest.
• I have no qualms with being an Out of state Land Lord, what matters to me is a good opportunity.  Anything I buy will end up being out of state in time due to Transfers.
• I want to utilize the buy and hold method as the primary way to invest, but I am open minded.
• I would like to purchase properties in the 30K-60K price range... for now.
• My skill set is in the Electrical field.

Those are the facts about my situation, so here is my Question:

     Moving every 2-4 years has certain disadvantages to the game of Real Estate.  To overcome these disadvantages I have been looking into Turn-Key solutions.  What advice can the community throw my way to help overcome the biggest challenges I have?

1.              1. What markets do you recommend?  The reality is my fishing net is pretty wide.  I am not tied down to any one place.
2.              2.  Should I even use Turn-Key?  It seems to be heavily debated.
3.              3.  Building trust and finding a good property manager.  I know they are not all bad, does anyone have suggestions.

I know that my fishing net is too wide, but because of my circumstances, i am starring out into an ocean of opportunities and need to narrow it down to only one fish.

Thank you in advance, and I am appreciative of all and any advice.

Brandon

[Ali Boone]

I don't think it's too wide at all. Here's my answers to your questions:

1. 1. What markets do you recommend? The reality is my fishing net is pretty wide. I am not tied down to any one place.
2. Trenton and Philly are great and close to you being in NJ, Birmingham is growing fast as a turnkey market, Houston, Chicago, Indy
3. 2. Should I even use Turn-Key? It seems to be heavily debated.
4. It's all I've ever used and all I plan to use. I love it. The debates are mainly between people who are trying to value-add to their properties by rehabbing or whatever (basically DIY options) and don't mind working on their properties. Turnkeys are best for people who don't want to work on their properties, or can't due to other obligations or location. Turnkeys are great opportunities for the people that they fit the needs of, which is not everybody.
5. 3. Building trust and finding a good property manager. I know they are not all bad, does anyone have suggestions
6. Turnkey PMs are typically more reliable in general than the general population of PMs. There are non-turnkey PMs who are good, but it takes awhile to find them. The reason turnkey PMs are often better in general is because them performing well is imperative for the turnkey seller's company to survive. If a turnkey company has a bad PM in place, their buyers will get hosed and never buy from them (the sellers) again. And because the profit margin is so low with PMs, it causes PMs to oftentimes be kind of the bottom of the barrel of people, but the turnkey companies make money not just from PM fees, so that opens a lot of doors.