All Forum Posts by: Paul Pompeo

@Paul Pompeo OOS investing is not for the faint of heart or for those that don't ask a LOT of questions. 

Well, actually, many jump in without asking a lot of questions, but they get screwed by crooked/ignorant agents, contractors, etc.

Many here will recommend starting out by finding a good agent.

We emphatically DISAGREE!

Approaching it logically, an agent is a transaction-based relationship. They sell you a property and their done. If they do a bad job and sell you a property that doesn't perform, they already got their commission, so what recourse do you have against them?

On top of that, +95% of agents only know how to do owner-occupied transactions. So, how do you expect their inexperience to impact your chances of them finding you a long-time performing rental?

So, who has their interests most aligned with an investor?

A great PMC (Property Management Company).

Whatever rental you buy, they have to deal with it every day. 

The challenge is that probably about 50% of PMCs are NOT the best. A percentage are just crooks, another percentage incompetent, some new & ignorant, etc.

The best way to screen PMCs is to ask a LOT of questions about how they perform their services. What specific steps do they take and what do they communicate to the owner?

Given your time constraints, you'll want to spend a lot of upfront time figuring this all out, to avoid even more time spent in the future trying to fix a mess if you choose the wrong people to deal with:)

PM us if you'd like to discuss more about doing this the right way.