Investing in a condo as a long term rental

[Daniel Borgenicht]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Daniel and I’m looking to invest in real estate to diversify and generate cash flow. While I’m not a newbie, I own two condos as long term rentals, I live overseas and thus my real estate experience is overseas. I’m unable to invest in areas familiar to me as I’m priced out of suburban NJ where I was born and raised.

I’m looking to spend $150-$180K on a condo and will need to research viable areas. While I understand the risks associated with investing in areas unfamiliar to you, my budget forces me to do so. Am I correct that a condo, depending on area and neighborhood, could be a lower risk/maintenance investment for an absentee landlord as opposed to other properties? While I am seeking cash flow and capital appreciation (who isn’t?), I really need to keep it simple and minimize risk since I live abroad. A low maintenance condo rentable to good tenants sounds like a good starting point to me.

I’m 56 and reasonably setup for retirement, so real estate is a stabilizing diversifier for me. My first deal would be all cash, and if all goes well, maybe a year or two later another deal with some financing. As a first step, I’ll print and read The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing. Later I might read The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner, but I need to be wary of succumbing to analysis paralysis.

Any advice/comments regarding my focus on condos would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much,

Daniel