Out of State Investing - Please share the good, the bad, the ugly

[Tasha Barnes]

Hello BP Family, 

I'm in Charlotte and the home prices have sky-rocketed so I'm contemplating purchasing investment prop. in my hometown (Buffalo, NY), Detroit, Michigan or Toledo Ohio. I don't have have a ton of experience and would have to depend heavily on a "good" PM.

Please share your thoughts!

Tasha 

[Scott Lundgren]

Henry, thanks for the insight. Just for clarification purposes, we don't invest in Chicago as it doesn't fit our model for those very reasons. We use 3% as an assumption on homes that are fully renovated or newly built, which is reasonable. New construction for example, which is the majority of what we do, will have no capex or maintenance for many years with builder warranties in place to cover all maintenance along with long term foundation, roof, HVAC/mechanical warranties, etc. In those scenarios having a lower reserve for capex and maintenance would be completely appropriate. Just wanted to clarify this to your response. If someone is buying a home in a lower class area, older home that hasn't been updated, etc., then yes, higher reserves would be necessary. As you can see RTR has an exceptional reputation on BP for many years earning more positive reviews than any other TK company. REI isn't always perfect, and obstacles come up, but we always assist our clients to navigate issues when they do arise.
Here are some positive threads to read through from investors that have worked with RTR:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/518583-feedback-on-renttoretirement-and-zach-lemaster

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/765347-rent-to-retirement-review

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/44/topics/1058814-first-time-with-new-construction-cape-coral-fl?highlight_post=6055029&page=1

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/850/topics/895660-my-first-investment-property-an-out-of-state-deal

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/983659-first-investment-property-with-rent-to-retirement?highlight_post=5677176&page=1#p5677176

https://www.biggerpockets.com/co/RentToRetirement

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/929410-rent-to-retirement-updates?highlight_post=5508807&page=1#p5508807

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/893621-rent-to-retirement-review?highlight_post=5222888&page=1#p5222888

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/915728-experience-with-rent-to-retirement-turnkey?page=1#p5345200

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/808479-rent-to-retirement-experiences

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/952977-turnkey-in-indianapolis-through-rtr-case-study

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/997350-lessons-learned-from-buying-my-first-rental-property?highlight_post=5748036&page=1#p5748036

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/533693-anyone-worked-with-renttoretirement-turnkey

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/581730-rent-to-retirement-zach

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/874096-reviews-on-r2r-and-nch?page=1&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Transactional:%20topic_notification&utm_content=Transactional#p5123754

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/883772-turnkey-investing-renttoretirement-feedback-reviews?highlight_post=5171720&page=1#p5171720

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/950188-rent-to-retirement?page=1&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Transactional:%20topic_notification&utm_content=Transactional#p5535505

https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/ZacharyCole/references