Why are so many new investors looking for out-of-state properties

[Jonathan Greene]

Every day in the forums it's the same thing. "I'm just getting started and I've analyzed a ton of deals (never seen any in real life) in several markets that are nowhere near where I live because where I live there aren't any good deals."

Here are some things to consider:

- Do you want to learn about REI or just be a passenger on someone else's plane? If you want to learn about REI, you aren't going to learn anything by investing in a first deal out-of-state. You could make money, but you will have no more knowledge of what it actually takes to be a better investor since you haven't seen any deals in person. And your entire investment will be managed and reviewed and maintained by someone you probably don't know very well.

- Why do you think there are no deals around your area? There are, you just don't know how to find them. If your 10-mile radius is overpriced, go up to 30 miles. You can't tell that within 30 miles of anywhere there isn't an up-and-coming area that has yet to hit its peak with deals available. Learn how to find local deals instead of hopping on the train of everyone who wants to sell you swampland in the Everglades for a great price.

- If this is going to be the single biggest investment in your life to-date, which most likely it is since you are new, why do you want to do this out-of-state and out-of-mind? What other investments are like this?

- Ask yourself how many properties you have seen in real life? How many times have you figured out what good electrical looks like and what bad electrical looks like? What about foundation issues? Do you know what markets have a saturation of abandoned oil tanks as possibilities? Even if you plan on investing out-of-area in the future, you should still be seeing 25-50 properties in person before you buy anything anywhere. Why would you take all this money and invest in something you haven't even put the time in to understand in real life.

- Analyzing deals on the computer or in a calculator, with no actual RE experience, is playing video games. You can calculate what a deal in Cleveland looks like based on Internet metrics, but which town is set to explode next? Who is telling you what is B- versus D in an area? Who can you trust there that DOES NOT have an interest in the sale?

Those of us who have been investing for 30 years don't talk about BRRR and we don't use acronyms for everything. I get why they are exciting concepts, but you can't talk investing well online and then expect to walk into an area and have old-school investors and sellers have any idea what you are talking about. The only way to get good as a real estate investor is to do the work in the field.

You have to know what a dump of a house looks like, feels like and smells like so when you look at photos of a crapshow in some random town that is a "steal" you know that it needs more than lipstick to go back on the market. REI, just like the Internet and Instagram, seems easy and looks cool online when you see everyone and their cousin flipping, but most people lose money in real estate. They just aren't here to say how bad they are doing because they hate real estate so much, got bad advice, and were scammed.

Stop looking at every market that is hot because if someone tells you it's hot now, you are one year too late. Find the area within 30 miles of you that is next to the last area where home prices have just gone up. Focus there. Get off the computer and calculator and go see properties, as many as your agent friend will take you to see.