How to purchase and remodel multifamily homes out of state

[Surbhi Anand]

I am interested in buying the cheap multifamily property out of state, but I want to close the deal and remodell without going to the state. How to go fwd with it? Has any of you done a similar kind of purchase before?

I would be interested in states that are landlord friendly and also I could get property for a very low price. Any pointers to some really good real estate agents/tunkey property providers ? 

States I am interested in : Indiana, Ohio etc

[Jonathan Wigan]

My former business partner, Rob Ellis, and I got to a point where about 85% of our investors were from out of state. The cap rates, returns and prices compared to states like California, Nevada, Washington etc... made it a no brainer for a lot of people. They faced the same issues you are discussing. Our method was to send properties to the client and educate them on the different areas in the city; some being lower risk and lower return and others the opposite.  This was back in 2016/17 when areas of Columbus like Olde Towne East and the area around Children's Hospital, for example, were just starting to heat up. We would spend time getting to understand the clients needs and criteria and at the same time  educating them about the city as well as creating proformas for them to review on properties that interested them.  All was done with video conference, power point presentations, emails and phone calls.  Once a client had decided on 2 or 3 properties that they were interested in after review of the numbers etc..., we would walk through the property and take detailed video and pictures.  We would meet the inspector and based on the inspection, photographic documentation and proforma, we would proceed with an offer.  Some clients would fly out for the inspection or when we had honed down the search to 2 or 3 properties but we did many deals where the client would just close from their home state. We were able to recommend property managers and many clients just collected "mailbox money".   Hope this helps.