Recommendations on buying long distance rentals

[Frankie Paterno]

Hello everyone ! I currently live in Ny area and was interested in searching for a long distance rental investment. Was wondering what spots some suggest are good cash flow states right now that i can practice running numbers on and if the deal is good jump on the opportunity. My finances are in check along with my credit. Thanks for the help

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Frankie Paterno:

Hello everyone ! I currently live in Ny area and was interested in searching for a long distance rental investment. Was wondering what spots some suggest are good cash flow states right now that i can practice running numbers on and if the deal is good jump on the opportunity. My finances are in check along with my credit. Thanks for the help

Welcome aboard. Many out of state markets available. Cleveland is the one I am most familiar with and it's also very popular with investors across the USA. I see from my keyword alerts it got tagged here a few times so I figured you'd get some value out of reading The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods. I also have similar guides that you may want to look over for Kansas City, Missouri. & Birmingham, Alabama.

In addition there are tons of other turnkey markets out there besides those I listed above. Many of these markets are very well represented by sellers & turnkey operators here on BiggerPockets. In no particular order I have listed some of the most popular markets for out of state investors, you may want to setup keyword alerts for each of them to see who's who and what's what etc.....

• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Dayton, Ohio
• Toledo, Ohio
• Youngstown, Ohio
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Memphis, Tennessee
• Saint Louis, Missouri
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Detroit, Michigan
• Erie, Pennsylvania
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Jackson, Mississippi

P.S.

Follow the punch list below when buying out of state and you'll really reduce your risk of loss.

• Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core. Pick a solid B-Class suburban area. Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.
• Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home. The reports are 40-90 pages long and go through the entire house in great detail.
• Get an appraisal. If your using financing the bank requires this. This is good. The bank isn't going to let you blow their money. They have more skin in the game then you do.
• Make sure you get clear title. If using a lender this is a non issue. They will make you do this. It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.
• Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.
• Google Clayton Morris and/or Morris Invest for a cautionary tale of what not to do when buying turnkey real estate
• Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it. If you are risk averse, real estate, (especially out of state) is not for you.