Question for on location

[Timothy Scott]

Hope everyone is doing well. Got a question for the group and just putting it out to see what I get back. I have already done some due diligence so wanted to see how my thoughts/research stacked up with what others thought.

I currently have a home in NC. It was a primary residence but shortly after got a job in Germany, I took that position now I have that house as a rental. My wife and I are looking at buying another house as an investment/rental. We have been discussing if we should put all our eggs into one basket (buying another rental in NC) or if we should diversify and get a new place in Columbia SC.

The challenge is I know the NC area well. However, I do not want to risk a fire/flood/tornado/alien/etc. destroying both our properties in one event. However, my challenge is with going to SC is I do not know the area, I cannot just drive down for a weekend and scope it either. I do not know where the good school districts are, low crime, and lower potential natural disasters (those are just some of my location choices, won't go into my house list).

How have you gone about expanding to find a new house in an unfamiliar area while considering your area and housing checklist. Especially when you cannot just visit it anytime.

[Stephanie Walker]

We work with a lot of out of state and international investors on their purchases and property management. To be honest, they tend to lean on me and my expertise to guide them on the areas I find the most success in. Of course, they do their own due diligence but if you find an HONEST agent and you know how to use online tools to check for crime rates, population growth, demand, etc., that's all you need.

For example, because I help them as a buyers' agent AND the property management side of things, I'm extremely picky with the properties. I don't want a property I can't fill later because our relationship carries well past the closing date.

I like Columbia, Greenville and Spartanburg SC for investments but often, the non-owner occupied taxes deter our clients from choosing SC over NC because it can greatly affect potential cash flow.