All Forum Posts by: Max Moncur

I am licensed in Oregon, and we don’t have any options to take classes in person. I did my licensing through OnlineEd, and have heard good things about The CE Shop. I passed my license exam on the first try, and paid a little bit extra to make sure I have the test prep materials in addition to the basic course. 

The California Association of Realtors likely has a directory of education providers at their website. If in person classes are an option, you’ll be able to find them there.

Before you sign up and pay for a course, you should reach out to several of the real estate brokerages in your area. Some of them may provide discount codes for the courses, or offer to pay for your courses if work with their brokerage once you are licensed.

 There are a couple areas I would recommend depending on what you're looking for.  The rental market here is pretty strong but I like to find sub-pockets that don't have a ton of competition and keeps pricing more reasonable. I would highly recommend Woodland CA (its a suburb just outside of sac by the airport). If you look at the "time on market" for any rental listings they are very short, meaning there is a high demand for rentals here. I've helped a few friends buy in Woodland and they have been very happy with the results. (Also check out South Natomas)

I am a licensed agent in NC, I work exclusively with investors and many people who hailed from BP, and are out of state or country. That said, I work with many CA investors who like NC due to pricing, taxes, and it being landlord friendly. If you ever want to chat about NC, let me know!

As for my advice to you; it comes down to the team. The team you build is super critical, someone mentioned trust which is a good way to put it. Trust is important, but having an excellent team with checks & balances in place eliminates the need for trust to be the sole determining factor. You can trust someone who does good work because of the work, or you can trust them because they spoke knowledgeably. That's two different forms of trust, one is in an entity the other in a proven result of work. 

So in other words, find a team that does the right type of work. They need to align with your motives, values, and investing strategy as well as your personal style that you present. A good team will tell you no, just as many times as they tell you yes, and will turn down the opportunity to make money sometimes, by giving you the honest feedback you need, strengthening your relationship. Inherently building trust, by proven quality of good work. 

So to identify these players you will need, you have to network (BP is a great tool for this), and typically once you find one person that you really connect with, whether they are an agent or not - if they have experience - they will have referrals. There's also nothing stopping someone from googling PMs/GCs/Agents in a market and calling/emailing as many of them as you want to speak about potentially working together, thus giving you a chance to vet them. As a rule of thumb though, if you connect with a agent in a market you are interested in - that meets your needs (it's so important not to settle for a ragtag agent)- they will have referrals they can pass to you for personal vetting. 

It's nice to think we can trust everyone at their word, but at the end of the day it's what they prove they are willing to do for you. So network, give opportunity for people you think are up to the task to work for you and earn future business from you. That's where you'll begin to trust the process, the team, and out of state investing will no longer be a daunting idea, but rather welcomed because all the pieces are in place. Teamwork makes the dreamwork!

Hope there was some value in this, 

Cheers!

Hi Max, great question. I live in the Sacramento area too and have invested in Missouri, Kansas and Wisconsin. The biggest factor is having the right property manager (they will make or break your entire experience). Also, its SUPER important that if you invest in colder areas that freeze that you make sure to keep heat on throughout the winter as vacancies can lead to freezing pipes (I learned the hard way... twice). I can recommend two PMs in the areas I invest that are great. Also, if you are looking to invest in our area I have a few recommendations of locations you should look at as well. 

I have worked with and currently work with a couple investors that specifically live in CA, some others in different states and some even out of the country. I will say it takes a lot of trust in your real estate broker and trust in your property managers to make you the most money they can and to make sure you make a solid investment. It’s definitely not a decision to take lightly but many do it!