Determining if it is a good BRRRR deal long distance

[Sohail Rezaie]

Hello! New investor here from Las Vegas, currently has done 1 flip and 1 under contract rehab being done in my local market. 

I have connected and networked with out of state Realtors (Texas/OKC) to send me BRRRR or fix n flip deals and I have received some deals. My question is how do we determine and analyze the deal properly and know if it is a good deal or atleast 70% of ARV if it is outside of our market where we have no knowledge of that market? I can analyze it in my own market with no problem in MLS and I have tried Zillow to run some comps. Anyone has any other way to run some ARV's other than going with what realtors and wholesalers tell you?

Thank you

[Andrew Postell]

@Sohail Rezaie yes, Yes, YES!  I wish I could take this post and put it in front of every investor that is investing out of state.  All of those questions are critical...and there's more than just those!  So when I hear someone saying "the market in X city has great returns!"....well, that might be true for you (or on paper).  If you have a good network of people already in that market, well, of course it will be great.  And that's why I firmly believe that the best markets really are the markets that you have a trustworthy network in.  You MUST have good contractors, and good property managers, good insurance agents, and all of those things - you may NEVER see your property if you are an out of state investor.  That's an enormous amount of trust you are putting into other people. 

So if you already have a network of people in another market - even if those numbers don't "seem" as good as the other market - go with the market where you have people already.  People that you trust that is.  Now, if you are starting blind - I would still recommend to start in your market first.  It's a lot easier to create relationships there (and it sounds like you have some) but if you are trying to look elsewhere, go with people that you may know first.  I lived in New York City for several years.  I could not invest in that city while I lived there.  My options were to try 3 hours upstate (and I didn't even own a car) or try another city where I knew people in real estate already.  That's why I started in Jacksonville, Florida.  Not because of the returns - but because I could trust the people who were taking care of my properties.  

Hope all of that makes sense.