Gotten Stuck Evaluating Where to Invest

[Abigail Lipson]

This is a 2-parter. 

1. I'm a real estate investor and property management company owner in Austin. I know Austin; I don't know other markets. I'm now looking to buy a SFH in another city and considering San Antonio, Birmingham and Tulsa. I've done research on each and made a spreadsheet. I've also talked to recommended Realtors in each city. I can make arguments for each but right now I'm a deer caught in the headlights. Would love to know what criteria or spreadsheets or other decision making tools you use to make the decision of where to invest.

2. As part of this search, I got connected to a company that does turnkey properties in Birmingham - they build them, sell them to the investor and manage them. I've never bought a property this way and curious if others have done it and if you think it's a good idea and how you make sure to protect yourself. 

[Drew Sygit]

@Abigail Lipson kinda lost here - you're a RE investor and PMC owner?

And you don't know how to evaluate other markets?

And you're speaking with "recommended agents" in other cities?

Recommend you spend some time researching your Austin market to learn how to evaluate potential rental purchases. 

No offense, but if you can't evaluate deals in your own city, why are owners hiring you to manage their assets?

Once you learn how to evaluate rentals in your city, it will make investing in other cities so much easier!

Also, not sure how you got recommended to agents in other cities, but +95% of agent in our experienec only know how to deal with owner-occupied transactions. 

"Investor-friendly agent" is one of the most abused statements here on BP! 

In our opinion, an investor should only work with agents that meet at least one of the following:

1) Own rentals themselves for at least 24 months
2) Have a 3-5 year track record of rental transactions, that they can document
3) Know how to calculate 1% Rule, ROI, NOI, etc.
4) Have access to tired investors selling the rentals

Hopefully, the agents you've been referred to meet one or more of these:)