Distant Investing: Different State and/or Country

[Josh Banwart]

Good Morning everyone, 

I am currently living in Germany as a DoD contractor and have been educating myself about real estate investing for about 8 months now. I have decided I would love to be part of the real estate journey (Rentals: Single Family or Small multi family), however, I am cautious because I am in a different country and somewhat "scared" of what could happen. It would be about another 2-4 years before I live back in the US, I am trying to figure out if distant investing might be too much for a first timer or should I possibly wait for the market to decrease a little more? Creating a team for the best deals will be significantly harder to gather because I have no experience as well

As always BP community, thank you all for your time and advise. 

-Josh Banwart

[Taylor Dasch]

I never count on the market decreasing to be honest. When you are able to make a good investment, then pull the trigger. Over time that good investment will just be at a higher price point. Personally, I would prefer to invest locally, this way I can find my own deals, study the market, anticipate possible opportunity areas, etc. However, if I were to invest in a different state, I would spend the majority of my time building a team in that area that I trust. 

Now if you just call someone and say hey I want to invest in Temple, can you send me deals? They are probably going to send the deals to all of their other investors first and you are going to get what nobody else took. However if you have a plan, show them your pre-qual/ proof of funds, and build a relationship with them - that would be enough for me to actively search for something that meets your criteria.