Investing in San Antonio Remotely

[Rajan Udeshi]

Hi All!

I am a Chicago transplant living in Orange, California. My fiance and I have started looking to purchasing an additional property in the area for long term cashflow. We are focusing on San Antonio area due to the diversified economy, 2020 forecast, and relative affordability to purchase multiple assets over the next couple years. We're looking for a buy and hold long-term rental, unless appreciation justifies selling :). We will look to leverage a property manager once I have something under contract. Any advice/insight into areas, investor-friendly realtors/wholesalers, and lenders would be fantastic!

Here's what i'm hoping to learn.

1. Who should I be working with as a remote investor? ( I plan on traveling there once I have a plan in place) ( Local agents please feel free to PM me)

2. What submarkets make the most sense to research? ( i'd like to find something relatively turnkey, cashflow positive and under 120-130K)

3. Is my budget reasonable? My goal is to put down 20% and go conventional route for financing.

Looking forward to hearing your replies!

Raj

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Rajan Udeshi:

Hi All!

I am a Chicago transplant living in Orange, California. My fiance and I have started looking to purchasing an additional property in the area for long term cashflow. We are focusing on San Antonio area due to the diversified economy, 2020 forecast, and relative affordability to purchase multiple assets over the next couple years. We're looking for a buy and hold long-term rental, unless appreciation justifies selling :). We will look to leverage a property manager once I have something under contract. Any advice/insight into areas, investor-friendly realtors/wholesalers, and lenders would be fantastic!

Here's what i'm hoping to learn.

1. Who should I be working with as a remote investor? ( I plan on traveling there once I have a plan in place) ( Local agents please feel free to PM me)

2. What submarkets make the most sense to research? ( i'd like to find something relatively turnkey, cashflow positive and under 120-130K)

3. Is my budget reasonable? My goal is to put down 20% and go conventional route for financing.

Looking forward to hearing your replies!

Raj

 Raj I don't know that market so don't have answers to your specific questions but do have a ton of experience with out of state investing in general. So with that said I figured I'd drop some out of state best practices for you to keep in mind as they should help you reduce risk no matter where you're investing.

• Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core. Pick a solid B-Class suburban area. Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.
• Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home. The reports are 40-90 pages long and go through the entire house in great detail.
• Get an appraisal. If your using financing the bank requires this. This is good. The bank isn't going to let you blow their money. They have more skin in the game then you do.
• Make sure you get clear title. If using a lender this is a non issue. They will make you do this. It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.
• Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.
• Google Clayton Morris scam and/or Morris Invest scam for a cautionary tale of what not to do when buying turnkey real estate
• Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it. If you are risk averse, real estate, (especially out of state) is not for you.