Interviewing Property Managers & Long Distance vs Close to Home

[Kyle Neff]

Hello BP Community!

I currently live in GA but have selected Ohio (where I'm originally from) to start my REI journey. I will focus on multifamily investing first and single-family second. I would like to start interviewing Property Managers soon as I know they are a critical partner when employing a long distance investing strategy. A few questions / topics of discussion:

1) Long-Distance Investing vs Investing close to home -- hoping to get some insight on this since I am just starting out. From my limited knowledge, Ohio seems to have much less barrier to entry than Georgia (where I live currently) and much more of the inventory I am looking for (multifamily). Is it a stupid idea to invest out of state for the first few properties, or is it more a question of risk tolerance (or something else)?

2) What are some questions I should be prepared with when I start interviewing Property Managers?

Thanks in advance for the insight!