Looking to Invest Out Of State

[Dannielle O'Buckley]

After running a lot of numbers, I realized it’s not feasible to invest in my backyard. I’m looking to invest out of state now, but I have no clue where to start looking for a location. How is everyone who is investing out of state doing their due diligence?

[Ed Zulyevic]

Hi Dannielle,

I'm in the same boat. Fortunately I am part of a large investor group that invests outside of their home areas and they have passed down some useful due diligence research to me. 

Here are a few of the things they look at, start with areas your interested in first then you can get statistics from Realtor.com. Realtor keeps a TON of statistics. Take your time and don't get frustrated because its overwhelming at first. Got to Insights then "Research" then "Data" then scroll down to "Historical Data". Here is where you want to be looking!

For each of the areas you might be interested in look up "unemployment rate, appreciation and inventory. year over year"

Appreciation (%)(H) Median List Price Y/Y

Inventory (%)(K) Active Listing Count Y/Y

Unemployment (%)

I plot these numbers each month in a spreadsheet and look at the trend.

How did I pick some areas first you might ask?? Well I cruised around BP and wrote down areas others were talking about and started my research. Once I found a few areas I liked I then ran the numbers. Then I called Property Managers in thoes cities and found managers whom I liked and their business aligned with mine. Eventually I found a PM in the city I like and we talk often. He knows he will get any house I buy to manage and he looks at new properties for me, sets up any maintenance that it needs after I buy it and makes sure it meets the qualifications of his PM business. He is my trusted partner on the ground with my interests at hand. Win-Win!

I don't use real estate agents to buy because I look and market for distressed homes. More money in my pocket and my PM in town is the one who looks at the houses, sends me pictures and even has his maintenance guy inspect for me. It took me about 6 months to find the perfect PM, so take the time to get this step right.

I am always open to help in any way I can. Someone below or above in a thread mentioned they were lucky enough to get on a call from a seasoned investor. I am open to that as well, I believe in helping whenever I can, we all start somewhere. The fact is at the end of the day this is all about relationships.