Would you invest out of state?

Question

I've read about landlord-friendly southern states like Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Tennessee and Mississippi being good states for landlords. I looked up the costs of SFHs in these states and I found that you can put down 20% with $10K. I guess the only issue I see with this is I'd only get back around $400/mo after saving for expenses and management. I have had trouble finding these low prices in my state though. It's expensive to put down 20% on a house in my state as it costs around $24-$30K+ in my state, but only $10K in the southern states which is doable for me. I also found a MFH in GA very cheap too. Would you consider investing in SFHs or MFHs out of state and just having a property manager or handyman manage properties out there? Anyone who invests out of state, how is that going for you?

Alyssa Dyer · Answer

@Raeshelle C.

I'm curious if you ever took the leap and invested OOS! I've seen hundreds of investors come to OKC for the same reasons, their own markets are just too expensive. Just curious to see if you went for it and how it went!

Henri Meli · Answer

@Raeshelle C. Yes, you can. Plenty people on this site do.

You definitely need to educate yourself and make sure you take enough precautions to safeguard your investments. Here are some of the steps I would follow.

1. Educate yourself about Real Estate strategy you want to use. Not all strategies are good for out of state investing.

2. Perform market research and decide on a target market.

3. Build a team there. (Broker, Property manager, Legal, Contractors, ...)

3. Make offers and get in the game.

Good Luck !!!

Antoine Martel · Answer

Absolutely I would invest out of state. Thats is where all the cash flow is and it is there for the taking. Investing out of state allows you to buy properties with $15k down and cash flow $200-300/mo.

Patrick Liska · Answer

First thing is to make sure of the area you are investing in, that means taking a trip and seeing for yourself what the area is like and maybe talking to some local professionals. Having property out of state is not a bad thing, as long as you find a PM that you feel is good and you are comfortable with, again, ask around who would be the best PM in the area while you are there. My properties are all out of state right now and i have a PM running them, but you do need to check up on them and review monthly statements to make sure everything is going the way you want it to go.