Advice for an out of state investor

[Natalie V.]

Hi BP Community, 

I'm in need of some general advice. I'm an out of state investor focused on SFR/long term tenants with a total of 2 properties acquired since 2020. I generally look for properties on the MLS that have been sitting for a bit/need a little work. I'm in a position to acquire more, but have recently run into a lot of dead-ends. I'm working with a new investor friendly agent who has brought now 3 properties that were are found to be money pits upon inspection. Obviously I haven't gone through with any of these, but it has been a little bit of a time waste.

My question is, what are the basics that should be expected from an investor-friendly agent? Please note, I do a much of my own research as I can, but there are certain things I can't do simply because I'm out of state. Ideally I would want him to drive by the home, snap some pictures of outside/inside problem areas to give me ANY idea of repairs expected before an offer is put it. He doesn't seem to want to help in that department and instead provides buffered repairs numbers that are based on nothing.

I will say, I do have a great PM that is always there come inspection and tells me the hard truth, but I don't want to continue wasting his time on duds. Ideally I want more thoroughly vetted properties before putting in an offer. Any tips from other out of state investors out there?

Please be kind! :) 
    

[Ko Kashiwagi]

Hi Natalie,

I used to source deals for investors out of state. There's generally 2 ways to go about this.

1.Find an agent who will put in that work - one that sends you better deals and actually shows pictures of the insides. Investor-agents like this that go above and beyond are honestly not easy to find, and usually agents like this already have a lot of clients that they've worked with. However, if you can find these agents, you will be able to build long term relationships and get through many deals with them.

2.Find a boots on the ground, separate from the agent that will do some of this work for you. This could happen in many forms. You could get an investment partner that is local. You could get your contractor (who will do the repairs once you get a property under contract) to send pictures and give you estimates. You could hire a photographer or handyman to take pictures for you and be the boots on the ground.

Hope this helps.