Newbie from Modesto, California

[Kathleen Ennis]

My name is Kathleen Ennis and I teach at a local community college. My husband Russell is a high school administrator. We live in Modesto, California.

We own a few rental properties in our hometown: Two single-family homes and a "mother-in-law" cottage that we list on Air BnB and is pretty much rented out continuously by traveling nurses. These have been successful ventures for us, and we wanted to expand our reach in this area, since we are about 11 years away from retirement. Our dream is to retire to Medellin, Columbia.

The property values in Modesto have finally started to take off again (we were behind the curve for a few years) and the price-to-rent ratios left a lot to be desired, so we started to do some research. Long story short, we are in the process of purchasing a home in Pittsburgh, PA, in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. And suddenly I'm terrified. What were we thinking? We live thousands of miles away. I need to find insurance, a handyman, make decisions about property management. We manage everything on our own at home because we live close and have amazing, trusted handymen. We rent to people we know and everything is so easy here. Seriously: have we lost our minds? PITTSBURGH? I'm here to get advice from grizzled (and not-so-grizzled) veterans.