Topeka Kansas investing

[Alec Davis]

Hello.  I am a California based investor looking into out of state markets to purchase rentals.

I've never invested out of state before, but I want to start growing my net worth and really getting into rental investing.  All My investments thus far have been fix & flips in California.  I came across some areas in Kansas I liked including Topeka and I was looking for some more insight from some property managers or investors in the area about the rental market if possible. 

The housing market is priced relatively low, room for investments around town.  I've seen some real beat up homes and some really nice looking ones, all are priced well from what I can see.  Rents for 3 or 4 beds can be around $800 and $1000 per month depending on the property of course which makes rent to mortgage ratio pretty solid.  Topeka seems to have a good population density...

Are there any rental investors or maybe some agents in Topeka who would be willing to give some advice on the rental market out there?  Any positives or negatives would be welcomed.  Also if there are any insights on having a good property management out there who understands how to work with an out of state owner.  As I mentioned before, I have never invested out of state before so I am just trying to gather some good info before taking any action.  Some of these deals would  need rehabbing prior to putting a renter in there, I'd be interested in chatting with someone about some good companies / contractors...

Thanks in advance!

-Alec

[Jacob Sampson]

@Dave Clauson is correct.  You buy in Topeka for cash flow.  If you don't have that you don't have anything because there is no real long term appreciation.  We purchased a 3 bed 1 bath home in a reasonable part of town for 40k.  The last time it sold was 20 years previous for the same 40k price.