how to invest in another market

[Jason Malabute]

My team and I recently decided to expand to a new market.

Here are the things I look at before deciding to commit to a new market:

1. 1. Make sure that the population market within the MSA is increasing (if 1 or 2 zip codes in the submarket has a decreasing population that's not too of much of a concern as long as you learn why the population in that zip code is decreasing
2. 2. Make sure the MSA population is at least 400k
3. 3. Net migration is positive
4. 4. job growth is steady 
5. 5 wage growth is positive
6. 6. median income per month > 3x of monthly median rent
7. 7. median rent/median home price should be at least over .5% (it's hard to get 1% in today's market)
8. 8. renter percentage > 30%
9. 9. easy eviction process (landlord friendly)
10. 10. diverse big employers (top employers should be in different industries)
11. 11. I also want what cost per unit I should be buying properties to get desired returns (that's why I always reach out to local investors)
12. 12. I'll reach out to brokers to find out cap rates 
13. 13. I'll reach out to property managers and investors to get average rents and make sure the zip codes I'm looking at are the class/grade I'm interested in