Investing while out of the country

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Investing while out of the country

John Burke
Wake Forest, NC · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 7 votes

I'm a US resident who works out of the country about 10 months out of the year. This has discouraged me from investing for the most part. All I've done up to this point is mostly education. I come home twice a year, but I don't know if I'll have enough time to close on a deal before having to leave for work again. And if the property needs work, chances are I'd have to completely trust a contractor to get the work done. My goal is to purchase buy and hold properties, either SFH or Multifamily. I'm trying to figure out the best way to purchase properties while not in the country so I can build my portfolio while working my day job, because I'd like to work towards either quitting my job or moving to a stateside admin position (which entails a pay cut). I am married, but my wife doesn't support investing in real estate. I think after a few deals she will come around, but that doesn't help me right now. If it matters, I'm a resident of NC and plan on investing in the state.

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Marcus LongPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Leawood, KS · Member since 2016 · 102 posts · 104 votes
6y

@John Burke First of all, @David Pere has a lot of good material, so check out the article he has for you. Second, I am active duty military and currently stationed overseas and continue to invest. While some of those investments were prior to moving overseas, some of them have been since I have left. That said, while most of my investments before moving were buy and hold, some of them since I have left have been private lending, etc. Let me know if you want to discuss sometime.

Cheers,

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  • Rose WhitePro Member
    Real Estate Agent · Woodstock, GA · Member since 2019 · 72 posts · 43 votes
    6y

    Hi John! 

    I think investing in real estate for the first time for ANYONE or most can definitely bring uncertainty as in whether "am i making the right choice to do this", "what if something goes wrong?", "my first deal might be a terrible one".
    While all of those thought can be true, unless you try it, you won't know. right? I completely understand your wife though. 

    Anyways, I would suggest you to invest in cities you know/lived first. When you come back to the states, is your home in New Bern, NC? Is there any cities you know nearby that's getting more populated or more companies are coming in? if you know any, you can study the area and invest there first. As for meeting the right agent/property manager, I hope that person comes across on this thread for you but find someone that does investing themselves in that area or at least have interest in that area. This would help you leverage their knowledge of that area to help you succeed your "first deal". If that agent doesnt have an experience themselves, maybe meet someone that works under an investor broker as well.(this is not a sales pitch but) my broker has a lot of out of state/country investor clients. So I wanted to pick her brain and learn from her so I joined her firm rather than joining the big people. 

    Taking your first step is 1 step closer to your goal than taking no steps! 
    Good luck on your investment journey! 
     

    1Reply
  • John Burke
    OP
    Wake Forest, NC · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 7 votes
    6y

    Hello Rose,


    I’m from New Bern originally, but I moved more central in the state to Wake Forest last June. I’m comfortable investing in either market, but I was thinking Fayetteville in order to get some advantages of investing in a military town. I guess the first thing I should do is reach out to real estate agents and brokers in the Fayetteville area. Since it’s a military town, some of the agents there have probably worked with deployed people before and might have an idea of what I need to do.

    0Reply
  • Rose WhitePro Member
    Real Estate Agent · Woodstock, GA · Member since 2019 · 72 posts · 43 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @John Burke:

    Hello Rose,


    I’m from New Bern originally, but I moved more central in the state to Wake Forest last June. I’m comfortable investing in either market, but I was thinking Fayetteville in order to get some advantages of investing in a military town. I guess the first thing I should do is reach out to real estate agents and brokers in the Fayetteville area. Since it’s a military town, some of the agents there have probably worked with deployed people before and might have an idea of what I need to do.

    HI John, yes! 

    you can search for agents on biggerpockets as well! :) 
    also, dont forget to run your numbers yourself! 
    good luck!  

    1Reply
  • David Pere
    Rental Property Investor · Springfield, MO · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 890 votes
    6y
    @John, I wrote an article about military real estate investing while overseas, I'm sure this would be applicable to your situation. Unfortunately I can't send the link from my work computer, but I'll try and shoot it to you when I get home later!
    1Reply
  • Marcus LongPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Leawood, KS · Member since 2016 · 102 posts · 104 votes
    6y

    @John Burke First of all, @David Pere has a lot of good material, so check out the article he has for you. Second, I am active duty military and currently stationed overseas and continue to invest. While some of those investments were prior to moving overseas, some of them have been since I have left. That said, while most of my investments before moving were buy and hold, some of them since I have left have been private lending, etc. Let me know if you want to discuss sometime.

    Cheers,

    2Reply
  • David Pere
    Rental Property Investor · Springfield, MO · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 890 votes
    6y

    @Marcus Long Thanks for the shoutout brother!

    0Reply
  • Angel V.
    Rental Property Investor · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2018 · 21 posts · 14 votes
    6y

    @John Burke until you build a good team or move back to the states, Turnkey providers might be something to dig into and get a couple Properties in Your portfolio. Good luck!

    1Reply
  • Tchaka Owen
    Real Estate Agent · Merritt Island, FL · Member since 2017 · 974 posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @John Burke - you might be looking at this in the wrong light: being overseas is great reason to invest in real estate in the US. You're making very good money (a portion of it is tax-free) and you likely have some living expenses covered. Some of that disposable income should be tucked into real estate. 

    The first home my father purchased was while we were back in the US. We moved 10,000 miles away before settlement, so my grandfather signed the paperwork. After 31 years, my dad sold it for 4 times as much. We lived in it a total of 3 months, the rest of the time it had renters who not only paid it off but the resulting positive cashflow is one reason why he could semi-retire in his late 40s. He also picked up a condo 17+ years ago that's a rental. As a heads-up, my parents haven't lived in the US since 1985. And they haven't had problems. They do have a few friends who focused on real estate and picked up numerous homes. Imagine how nice it is to own 5 or 6 homes in the DC area. That could be you.....in NC. 

    What I suggest is that you contact a few realtors and pick one that you like and get on an automatic notification several months prior to your next visit. When you're back, go house hunting. If you find one, buy it. Do a POA if you're leaving prior to close and have someone finish it for you. If it goes smoothly (it should), do it again on your next visit. And again and again. You'll move back home in a few years owning multiple homes with tenants paying your mortgages.

    1Reply
  • John Burke
    OP
    Wake Forest, NC · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 7 votes
    6y

    @Tchaka Owen

    That's along the lines of what I was thinking. My little brother is local. I guess i could give him a POA to sign for me. That would allow me to get one or two deals a year if i can find them. I just started reaching out to realtors to get on automatic email lists and BP flagged me for spamming and shut down my messages for a little while. Seems to be resolved now.

    1Reply
  • John Burke
    OP
    Wake Forest, NC · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 7 votes
    6y

    @Marcus Long

    Honestly private lending is not something I had considered. I'll have to look into it more and try to strengthen my network a bit.

    0Reply
  • Jared Lafer
    Real Estate Broker · Asheville, NC · Member since 2019 · 5 posts · 2 votes
    6y


    @John Burke have you thought about investing into a Real Estate Syndication? That way regardless of where you are you are collecting income passively and would not have to worry about the day to day operations of the business. A great way to get started and build your portfolio with out having to be present for each deal ect. 

    1Reply
  • Roni E.Pro Member
    Specialist · Earth 2.0 · Member since 2019 · 598 posts · 271 votes
    6y

    Since "the boss", the spouse is not 100% on board. How about looking for syndication in North Carolina as you like the state. This way you put money in and then every quarter or month a check comes in. Now most syndicators will require a $50k or $100k investment. Ask could I come in with $20k or $25k.

    1Reply
  • John Burke
    OP
    Wake Forest, NC · Member since 2017 · 19 posts · 7 votes
    6y

    So I spoke with PennyMac, the company that I have my personal home loan through, and they said that they can setup remote closings at an embassy for me. I'm sure if they can do it, other companies will as well. Where there is a will, there is a way. Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

    0Reply
  • James Wise
    Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @John Burke:

    I'm a US resident who works out of the country about 10 months out of the year. This has discouraged me from investing for the most part. All I've done up to this point is mostly education. I come home twice a year, but I don't know if I'll have enough time to close on a deal before having to leave for work again. And if the property needs work, chances are I'd have to completely trust a contractor to get the work done. My goal is to purchase buy and hold properties, either SFH or Multifamily. I'm trying to figure out the best way to purchase properties while not in the country so I can build my portfolio while working my day job, because I'd like to work towards either quitting my job or moving to a stateside admin position (which entails a pay cut). I am married, but my wife doesn't support investing in real estate. I think after a few deals she will come around, but that doesn't help me right now. If it matters, I'm a resident of NC and plan on investing in the state.

     Turnkey dawg. That's the move for you and your situation. Cleveland is the turnkey market I am most familar with and it's also very popular with investors across the USA so I figured you'd get some value out of reading The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods. I also have similar guides that you may want to look over for Kansas City, Missouri. & Birmingham, Alabama.

    In addition there are tons of other turnkey markets out there besides those listed above. Many of these markets are very well represented by sellers & turnkey operators here on BiggerPockets. In no particular order I have listed some of the most popular markets for out of state investors

    • Cincinnati, Ohio
    • Dayton, Ohio
    • Toledo, Ohio
    • Youngstown, Ohio
    • Cincinnati, Ohio
    • Memphis, Tennessee
    • Saint Louis, Missouri
    • Indianapolis, Indiana
    • Detroit, Michigan
    • Erie, Pennsylvania
    • Louisville, Kentucky
    • Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    • Jackson, Mississippi

    Each of these markets is popular with turnkey investors because of the low barrier to entry, high rental demand & high rent to price ratio. I recommend setting up keyword alerts for each area as they are discussed in the forums daily with advertisements posted in the BiggerPockets marketplace hourly.

    One thing to note when looking at the individual markets, you can make or lose money in any market. Don't think that one particular out of state market will shoot you to success or abject failure. It's not really that complicated to buy out of state. It only becomes complicated when investors try to over complicate or over think everything. Whenever you are buying a property out of state you should do a few things to ensure it's as smooth as possible.

    • Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core. Pick a solid B-Class suburban area. Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.
    • Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home. The reports are 40-90 pages long and go through the entire house in great detail.
    • Get an appraisal. If your using financing the bank requires this. This is good. The bank isn't going to let you blow their money. They have more skin in the game then you do.
    • Make sure you get clear title. If using a lender this is a non issue. They will make you do this. It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.
    • Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.
    • Google Clayton Morris fraud and/or Morris Invest fraud for a cautionary tale of what not to do when buying turnkey real estate
    • Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it. If you are risk averse, real estate, (especially out of state) is not for you.
    2Reply
  • Jonathan Oh
    Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2019 · 499 posts · 259 votes
    6y

    @John Burke

    I agree with @James Wise and think turnkey is the best route for you. There are a lot of bad turnkey deals out there so do you due diligence thoroughly. The unfortunate thing is, you are sort of limited to markets that turnkey companies operate in. I'm not sure I know of any operators in NC. If you qualify as an accredited investor, then you may also want to look into syndications. Hope this helps!

    @John Burke

    2Reply
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