Long Distance Investing

[Bryan Metz]

Hey BP! 

I am currently in the Atlanta area and finding it difficult to find deals that make sense here at the moment. I just finished David Greene’s Long Distance Real Estate Investing as I have been interested in expanding my search to other areas. I have been working with some different data sets to try and narrow my search to 3-5 markets I can really start evaluating. My current method is to look at 5 key metrics to narrow down to 5 states and then narrow down further to 5 specific areas from those states- all in this order of importance :

1- population growth/“opportunity”

2- crime rates

3- education

4- landlord favorability

5- economic stability

Once I have narrowed down further I would also likely include a few other potential things like public transport, specific school ratings etc.

Is my approach way off? What are the metrics you have found to show promise when trying to find new markets?

Any markets you are currently investing in that are promising?

thanks BP!

[Patrick Drury]

@Bryan Metz
I think population growth, economic stability/ population growth, and landlord favorability are the most important indicators on that list. Columbus would be a great example, has lots of job opportunities, population growth and is landlord friendly. In regards to job opportunities, Columbus is home to the HQ of Chipotle, Wendys, White castle, L-Brands, and Hunnington. Columbus is also home to OSU, which constantly develops real estate, employs lots of jobs, and attracts students from the US and internationally to attend. The more headline companies that have decided to move to Columbus as of recently include Intel, Hyperion, which is a company that makes hydrogen fuel cells, and Forsees power which is a French EV battery company.