Hello, I am new here.

I live in Walnut Creek, CA with my wife and my two kids in a 3 bedroom single family home I bought in 2010. I have a pretty stable well paying job in tech and I was able to save $150,000. I am looking to one day have around $12k a month of cash from rental properties.  There are a couple of things I know I want:

1. I have relatives in NC (Raleigh/Greenville area) and FL (Tampa/Orlando area) so I would prefer to properties in those states

2. I would have like to have someone manage any property I rent

Where do I start?

Thank you all in advance.

@Andres Jimenez In my opinion you should go to the market and network with folks, learn the area, meet PMs. Then think about how you can recycle that same chunk of capital over and over, the trick to do that is to add value. I personally do this out of state in Kansas City. I’m sure you can do it in NC. So maybe think about a value add small MF or appartment, add value, refi or sell, ladder up!

@Lee Ripma That makes sense and thank you very much for the advice. Do you think my first step should be finding real-estate agent in those markets?

Thanks again!

@Andres Jimenez I would first define exactly what you are looking for but then after you do that, yes, find someone who can sell you what you are looking for!

So as someone with family out of state that's one thing I thought would be helpful when I started, but it hasn't been really. I don't involve family at all in my investments because I respect their time and sinply put avoid mixing family with Business.

the markets you picked from a logistics stand point are a pain. You're going to lose out on the time zone and flights are going to be an all day adventure...and probably costly and unlikely to get direct flights.

Like Lee I'm also in KC market. Between SFO and OAK I can get non stops all the time at affordable rate (250-350 rt) or cheap if you go spirit/frontier. Like 150 bucks roundtrip cheap... Did I mention it's like 3 half hour flight and centeral time....

With alll that said if those markets still make sense past just because family is there I'd get a solid understanding of the areas you want to Target. Know the rents /prices and then talk to a banker. 150k you could (at least in KC) but a house cash and do delayed financing. Once you find that banker you click with (it's eaiser to vet banker because it's just numebrs) ask for the best agent. Then once you get the agent ask questions you already know the answer to, let them talk, their answers should match yours and then go from there.

If you have questions, I'm local and easy to get ahold of...

@Andres Jimenez Hi, I am a licensed real estate broker in NC. I work in the Raleigh/Durham area. I would love to connect with you to find out more about your plans.

Use Roofstock. There's a lot of talk about needing to build a team, fly out to places, "boots on the ground" etc. That's in the past, we're in 2018 now, and if you're like me, I'm trying to be an investor, not a landlord.