Strategies for New Investors

[Pedro Magallanes]

Hey Everyone, 

My wife and I are currently getting ready to start looking at real estate investing. We live in Los Angeles county but buying anything here is crazy expensive and rent control limits any ability to profit anything. 

We are now looking at other areas like Detroit or Chicago where we can purchase something more affordable. 

The question I have is the following: 

We have around $200k ($100k cash/$100k heloc) to play around with. Would it be a best investment strategy to use the cash to finance a property over $100k or should we focus on properties we can buy with heloc, refinance and repeat given todays market? 

[John Warren]

@Pedro Magallanes I would not focus on cheap properties you can buy in cash as an out of state investor. Instead, I would focus on buying the best quality properties you can afford in areas where you can't miss for the most part. Here in Chicago, there are plenty of areas where you can find quality tenants in what I would call a star bucks neighborhood. Look for the areas with a chipotle, star bucks, etc. 

Being out of state, you will pay more for everything and have a worse outcome always than someone who is local. Buying cheap properties is a recipe for disaster as an out of state owner. It may all seem fine for a bit and then the wheels will come off... ask me how I know!