Do you invest outside of your state?

[Jeremiah T.]

Who has purchased SFH, commercial investments outside of their state? Or at least more than a day's travel by car? How do you cope with being remote?

[Rick Versace]

@Jeremiah T. I live in South Florida and invest in multifamily properties in different cities around the country because of the lack of opportunities in our direct vicinity. I will outline a few of our strategies below to try to keep this post from getting too wordy:

Determining which markets to invest in:

We focus on markets that are showing early signs of population and economic growth. For example, Jacksonville, FL and Dallas-Fort Worth, TX have been areas of major growth over the past 2-3 years. If you are able to find a market that is at the early stages of this growth, it is a great way to mitigate your risk by purchasing at the beginning of the cycle.

Finding Properties:

We use a number of different strategies depending on the market, but some of which include direct mail, building relationships with other real estate investors in the area, building relationships with brokers in the area, and calling property owners directly to see if they are interested in selling.

Managing Properties:

Someone mentioned this earlier, but building a great team is our number one priority when starting in a new market. This includes:

- Property Management Company - Know which companies specialize in which types of properties (Larger or smaller, A-C props, etc.) 

- General Contractors - Multiple options

- Accountant (This is helpful if you are in different states where taxes are different from your own)

- Real Estate Broker - Multiple

- Lending Relationships - Local banks can often be much more flexible in regards to terms. 

- Other real estate investors in the area - It always helps to have another set of eyes / boots on the ground that can help you out if you need someone to oversee a project.

I hope this helps! Good luck!