Looking to network with fellow out of state investors!

[Gorden Lopes]

Hi folks!

My name is Gorden and I have just started my real estate investment journey with an out of state buy and hold rental property and planning to buy some more in the near future. 

Closing the first deal has been an immense learning experience which no book could have taught me and I am sure there are many other folks like me in bay area who are also investing out of state and I would love to connect with them and we all can learn from each other!

If you are a out of state investor and are interested in meeting/networking other out of state investors then please reply. 

I did not see a recent thread like this so thought of starting this discussion.

[Jason Carter]

I don't invest in Indy so can't speak to that, but know people who do and they like it.

As far as Birmingham, I just started investing there in January, so take my thoughts w/a grain of salt. There are some more established Bham investors who may want to chime in here. 

ROI - cashflow vs appreciation potential? Upper teens on cashflow. I invest for cashflow so I don't calculate appreciation but I try to find neighborhoods with potential for it. That's a guessing game though. One neighborhood I'm in 50% of people have told me it has potential the other 50% say it doesn't. That said, I think some neighborhoods there will appreciate over time, but I don't think they'll skyrocket. Some others probably won't appreciate.

Potential for growth?  I think Birmingham has excellent potential for growth as a city. 

Quality of PM & GC? Very good. It's like anywhere - you gotta shop around. And realize your first one is probably not going to be the right one. You have to network. Ask the right questions and vet people. Establish relationships with local investors and get their opinions. 

Turnover & rentability? Birmingham has a very strong rental market. Turnover is part of the game but find good management that can get a quality tenant and take care of them, then tenants are less likely to move. Rentability? Make your house nice, make sure it's not the oddball house in an oddball location and it's going to rent. Provided you have good management. I've seen some nice houses sit unrented for a while. That's what happens if management doesn't pick up the phone or return calls. 

Maintenance expenses? I've seen nothing different than other markets. No one likes maintenance expenses. Just be careful not to nickel and dime everyone. I build teams based on the idea that everyone on the team has to make money. That said, if expenses are ridiculous move on. That's why I always recommend finding more than one management company - always good to have a backup. 

Single VS Duplex? I've only done singles so far. 

Turnkey providers & rates? Full disclosure - I sell some houses turnkey through MartelTurnkey and @Antoine Martel so I definitely give him a thumbs up. I've also heard good things about Spartan and one of their owners is on here a bunch.