How far away are you willing to Invest?

Question

Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask a question about how far away (from their home) people are comfortable investing, and the pros/cons of investing further away, maybe far enough that you cannot drive there for a simple reason.

I have read that people will invest many states away, but I was wondering if this was exceptional, or fairly commonplace.

I bring this question up because I live in a small town, and while I have a nice first property under my belt (6-unit house), there are not many buildings larger for sale in my town. In order to "trade up" I would almost certainly have to go out of my immediate area. I'd imagine hiring a competent onsite manage to be critical in this type of enterprise, but I was hoping to hear about personal experiences from those that are far wiser to this than myself!

Ben Bakhshi · Answer

If the location is habitable by humans, then I'm open to invest. My second filter is that I personally need to be able to visit. That means zero Muslim countries because they don't accept Jews, especially Jews who have an Israeli stamp on their passport. The third filter would be that it must be in an area that I can conduct reasonable amounts of research on from my computer, so if there are no English resources for me to research, then the odds of buying are slim to none. I have properties on both coasts of the US, but nothing international yet.

Rich Weese · Answer

Most of my properties are buy and hold and larger than average. For that reason, I'm ok with FL, TX, AZ and UT- and Cancun for fun...I have great mgmt in all areas and that makes it less trouble. I agree that it would be difficult for sfrs etc and larger properties are not. Rich

David Niles · Answer

We have several out of states we work with and a couple Canadians even, so I guess my answer would be, as far as you feel comfortable. Having knowledgeable people you can trust is the key, how do you get to that point? Start small and ask a lot of questions.

Jesse Tsai · Answer

90% of my deals are in town, and I employ an assistant to manage them. I do have quite a few deals that are spread out around the country. While the margins are currently much better out of state than they are here in Vegas, I do lose a lot of home field advantages. I have to find and depend on other companies to manage the properties and vendors. They typically don't care about my money as much as I do. Every market/jurisdiction has different conditions and laws that I may not be used to. As far as getting properties spread out through out the country, I lose the economies of scale of having all the properties in one locale. On the bright side, the margins tend to be much better out of state, and the learning process really makes it worth it for me.

Ned Carey · Answer

Basically driving distance. All my deal are in Baltimore City. Depending on where in the city I am about 30-60 minutes away. When I have the capacity to do $2 million deals, I will happily invest out of state. Until then I wouldn't consider it.

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

I currently invest in a 3-mile radius of my home. Some may laugh at this, because this doesn't give me much area, but if I had the money I would be buying up so much more because this little area I'm in is pretty hot.

Kris Patel · Answer

Does not matter. Suggest sale 6 units, and invest anywhere in NNN property with good credit tenant.

Priscilla Z. · Answer

I invest in my city and the one right next to it, but if the deal is good enough, a rehab for example, I'll travel an hour max. Your numbers and time just have to make sense for you.

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

This is Milwaukee, it's not a rural area. I like keeping things close; it works for me.

Mike H. · Answer

I try to stick to the 30 minute rule. Maybe 35. Anything more than that and its really pushing it. Its a pain to deal with when you have turnover and usually requires you to have a different set of crews to deal with issues (rehab, repairs, etc) since most contractors don't like to drive that far with their trucks. That being said, when you're first starting, I think you go where the deals are. And if you can't find anything in the 30 min radius, then go out further. There is definitely something to be said for staying close. Its amazing how much easier the rehab process is and the leasing and everything else when its 10 minutes from home. 3 mile radius is awesome. Although I'd be a little hesitant to have every single one of my houses in the same subdivision/town. If the town goes bad, you're in trouble. But I do know that if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't be so spread out. It was allmost like I was playing a game of pin the tail on the donkey. Trying to hit every single town I could. As it is, I'm at 17 yet I'm in 12 different towns. Once you get quantity, you'll start to look for more area concentration - even if the deals aren't as good.