Out of State Investing Calculation Tools On

[Vera Herlihy]

Bigger Pockets Forum Members,

I have recently purchased my first investment property out-of-state. Living in CA, the cost and risk of passive income investment is a bit more challenging so my husband and I are targeting developing markets outside of CA.

While we have read many books and viewed many blogs regarding how to calculate if a property is worth investing in, we do find that calculating closing costs and capital expense costs is not included and that these costs can vary quite a bit from market to market.

To calculate estimates for rent, property taxes and property values, we use many websites like Zillow, Rentometer, Realtor and Craigslist, but were wondering if you could direct us to a resource to better calculate closing costs (inspections, appraisals, property taxes, transfer fees, title insurance, etc) and capital expenditure repair costs (roofs, water heaters, etc..) as these seem to vary market to market.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Caleb Heimsoth]

Vera Herlihy have you chosen a market? If you’re looking at say two different Midwest cities I doubt the cost will change a lot.

I don’t have any specific resources for this besides google, and posting in forums and networking with locals. For example a water heater with installation is probably 800-1000 in the markets I’m in. A fuse box is around 1000 and so on.