Newbie from Long Island

[Vlad Frenk]

Hi, BP community

My name is Vlad and I am a professional in my early 40s with a wife and 2 kids. For the last 10 years I have been diligently contributing money to my 403b, to watch my "balanced portfolio" suffer the same fate as the stock market in 2008 with subsequent recovery and modest returns. The fact that "balanced" portfolios performed worse than S&P500 last year makes no sense to me, and speaking with my financial advisor does not bring any satisfaction.  I've been thinking of investing in local real estate for a while, but the prices here are prohibitive and the numbers don't make any sense. I recently came across BP forums and now feel that I am in the right place.

I am interested in "buy and hold" out of state cash-flow producing properties for a 5yrs + time horizon. I think I would be interested in SFH or small multifamily with a conventional mortgage financing.

1. Is turnkey property a good idea, and if so, how do you find a trustworthy company?

2. Short of moving to my area of REI interest (which is to be determined), how do you build a team there?

As you can tell from my questions, I am very new at this. Any insight would be appreciated.

Vlad