Procrastinating never got anyone anywhere!!

[Joseph Garner]

Hi everyone! This is my first post on here, and probably on any forum come to think about it. I currently reside in Clearfield Utah, a city about 30 minutes north of Salt Lake City. I’ve been interested in real estate for the past 5 years, and unfortunately have let a lot of good deals pass me by. 4 years ago, a friend and I were looking for homes in my area. At this time the market was great for investing. We had found 3-4 homes that we liked. However, he got cold feet and we never went in on a deal. Today those homes have doubled in cost, which would’ve made for a nice cash out refi (just recently have heard of BRRRR method) to invest elsewhere. Since then I have been hot and cold on the idea. For 3 months I do research, for 6 months I get stuck in the traditional work life flow and never do anything. At the beginning of the year my wife told me she was pregnant with our second boy. I am more and more excited as the time comes for his birth. It has me thinking that I don’t want to work 40+ hours a week until I’m 65 to retire and just whittle away. I want to live life and enjoy he time with my babies now, and as they grow. I have been looking out of state as in state it is hard to really find a deal that can yield the 1% rule. I have had my eyes set in Killeen Texas. Reason why is because my sister used to live that and has a couple rental properties. I’ve talked to lenders, real estate agents, I’ve ran numbers on over 50 deals, I’ve came up with 4 different scenarios on 20 of those deals with different numbers on rent, rehab, repairs, escape plans, etc. I am getting closer to pulling the trigger. However, I’m getting nervous. I’ve recently been reading “Long Distance Real Estate Investing” by Mr. David Greene, and it has me looking at other things. Mainly crime rate. Killeen has the 7th highest crime rate in Texas. So all these numbers I’ve ran, I think. Is it worth to rehab a place in a city with such bad crime? I look at other places on my street and they look the same they did when they were built. Is that because investors know it will just get ruined? Anyways, it’s great to be here and hopefully I can figure all this out so I can move forward with Killeen, or move forward in another city. Either way, I’ll be moving forward. Any advice would greatly be appreciated. Thanks, Joseph Garner

[Douglas Larson]

Hi Joseph and welcome to BP Nation! Hindsight is always 20/20. I love real estate and I've made lots of money with it but if I could go back it time I would have bought Apple stock 10 years ago and just sat on my butt til now... oh, and maybe a little bitcoin 2 years ago!

Since I don't have a time machine, I keep plugging away with solid, cashflow rentals and a couple nice flips each year. 

Out of state investing can be a little tough, especially for a beginner. Only you can decide if that's the best thing for you. Another great place to start is with a house-hack. Can you rent out your basement?  Can you buy a house with a nice, walkout basement and rent out the upstairs?

A general bit of advice I can give is that if you plan on being a long-term landlord, price doesn't matter nearly as much as cashflow. If a property will predictably bring in more money than it costs for mortgage and maintenance, you have a good start. If it is a property that attracts and keeps good tenants, you are even further along. The easiest way to make a million dollars is to borrow a million dollars and let your tenants pay it back!

Have fun out there!