BiggerPockets

I was wondering if I should do a out of state rehab. I have never done one before. Does anyone have any ideas, suggestions or comments

I'm with Mark - forget trying to do the rehab long distance .

Wholesaling is a different story - we've done deals in 5 states over the years...

Real Estate isn't necessary local. It's what you make of it.

But investing outside your local neighborhood is a whole new business. You need to be very organized and your profit margin must be higher then your use to, since their are extra cost involved. An example of this would be a project manager. Most people manage their own rehabs but when you are not there makes that extremely hard, or more impossible.

Some tips; Project manager is a must, usually around 10% of rehab cost.

Set up a local number to be forward to your office. This is important to give the impression you are in town and when people give you quotes, they wont try to take advantage of you.(But we all know they would never try this haha)

Partnering up with a local investor

Longer period of Due Diligence then you normally would do. This will give you the extra days to organize yourself.

A Real estate agent who works with out of town buyers. They usually will take 50+ pictures of the house, neighborhood, etc. May even take videos.

Project Managers must give the go ahead to finish a job up, once they have doubled check and taken pictures of the project. Your Due diligence becomes very very anal, compared to if you were there yourself.

Also remember materials and labor will be different then your local area so always do your research on everything.

Hope this helps!

Victoria- IMHO unless you have a team set up I would advise against it. Unless you are welling to fly out of state and be on site 2-3 days a week to make sure that the work gets done. It is possible but not for the newbie investor that has never done it before.

I do long distant flips from AZ to WI but I'm originally from WI and I know the area real well.

I'm curious, Victoria, whether or not you proceeded with that deal, and how it turned out if you did follow through with the remote rehab.

I disagree. Many local and remote investors got spanked when the market turned. Yet, savvy investors (whether local or remote) know how to get the data that they need to make solid investing decisions.

Any piece of real-estate on Earth could be a good deal provided one obtains it for the right price/terms. One person's trash can be another person's treasure. Properties in the most desirable areas can make money, and properties in war zones can make money too.

Besides, keep in mind that savvy investors don't need to spend 80 hrs per week scouring deals in Toledo. They could get the info that they need in less than an hour: they could call and ask an agent to run a query for all of the properties that sold in Toledo within the past 6 months. They'll know where those "experts" were buying, know the numbers, and find their next deals in those same areas for similar numbers.

Like Rudy, I also do some remote flips (and holds); some of are in OH. I'm originally from OH, know the areas where I invest very well.

The right power team definitely will make a difference--whether doing deals locally or remotely. Tax sales are one of my specialties; most investors--local or remote--aren't very familiar with them. So it should be clear at this point that local investors aren't slurping up all of the great deals; there's more than enough to go around.