Rental Noobie Seeking Advice

[Nicholas Delgado]

I have recently began my real estate investing career. I have been researching and scouting for the past 2-3 years in various markets, and now I am 1 year into owning an out of state cash flowing rental property to university students in a town near where I went to college. It was a little rocky when the tenants first moved in as the house had not been lived in for a year or two prior to them, but the maintenance calls have slowed down a bit and I am ready for another move.

I work with a business partner, so we are constantly bouncing ideas off each other. Our main question is whether to move on with another cash flowing university rental in the same area, or to work on getting the ball rolling faster with a flip. The catch is that the flip would be an out of state property with little way to supervise the work other than having a few friends in the area. What would be a reasonable way to compensate a friend to monitor the work for a month or two assuming they also work a day job? Or is this something over our heads as beginners? I am good with numbers and keeping conservative estimates, so i think the numbers are straight forward; our concern is the oversight aspect. 

Does anybody with more hindsight wish they did things in a different order to propel them into real estate success faster? We plan to move into multi-family and commercial as we progress, but still plenty of learning to do about those topics. All constructive criticism/comments are appreciated

[Jaron Walling]

@Nicholas Delgado This really comes down to level of flip you're tackling. If it's your first true flip I would limit the risk as much as possible. Surprises are not "hey we can't pay rent till the 10th this month", it's oh shoot the plumbing is bad in bathroom #2, that's a $4K fix. 

If the property need $10k worth of repairs that's lipstick flip. Not bad long distance unless you find surprises. If the property needs extensive work managing it long distance could be a challenge. You'll have so many work orders/ projects/ punch lists it would drive me insane personally. Without being on site a few times a week it's risky. I've completed two flips my self. I've had to "babysit" contractors working on my property because they tried to cut corners on window installation. It's the little issues that ruin the quality of the flip unless you don't care. I would look for distressed properties in C+ neighborhoods. Drive the streets and look at the demographic. It's a critical step for any investment. 

I prefer to fix houses the right way, on the first time, and on budget.