New Investor from Los Angeles just starting to research out of state

[Anne A.]

Hi everyone,

I'm from the Los Angeles area where I own two homes. One is my principal residence, the other is a rental which we're thinking of selling later this summer. Although it's a nice house (valued at about $825k), because I inherited it with my brother and our father had taken out a reverse mortgage on it one year before he passed away, we're barely breaking even on it every month. We're either going to sell it or put some money into it, fix it up and re-lease it at a higher rental rate.

Right now I'm leaning towards selling it and using the money to invest in multiple properties out of state where I can, A) get a better cash flow and; B) not have to share with my brother! LOL! Seriously though, it would be nice to be able to own more than one property and have positive cash flow on all of them.

Some people (my husband included) think I'm crazy for even thinking about selling a home in the Los Angeles area - that I should just hold onto it, raise the rent and hold it for several more years. Even though it's our family home (my parents purchased it in 1964 and completely rebuilt it in 1995 after the Northridge earthquake), I'm ready to move on.

From what I've read, Indiana and Illinois are good areas to look for properties. I'd like to get a couple of multi-family properties and maybe one or two single family properties. Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks!