out of state investing

[Mike Abramov]

I made up my mind that I want to invest out of state just because I cant find anything in California where I live.

I am narrowing down some areas of choice

Ques I have for you guys is what are some of the things you do or re-search for to make you want to invest in that area?

 What are some of the most important things I should look for?

love to hear some different strategies people use

thank you

[Andrew Johnson]

@Mike Abramov My advice, which isn't quantifiable, is to pick a place where you have lived, gone to school, your crazy uncle lives, your best friend moved to, etc.  If even none of those folks are a real estate investor I can pretty much guarantee they know where they wouldn't drive at 2:00 a.m. on a Saturday night.  They know where their boss lives.  They know the part of town they'd move to if they have the money.  In short, they know the proverbial "right vs. wrong" side of the tracks.  One of the massive challenges that I suspect people have (when they don't do that) is that they can understand population demographics, median income, run a pro-forma, but unless you know the area it's much harder to distinguish B from C areas.  A's are obvious, B's are obvious but the middle ground...well...sometimes isn't so obvious from sitting at your computer in Granada Hills.  But everyone who lives there knows...

Sure, you can reach out to realtors, property managers, etc. and hopefully get some good clues.  They should be open, honest, and transparent with you.  Many are.  But not all of them are and (let's face it) they all have a fiscal interest in you doing a deal.  What your *really* want is someone to tell you "no".  Someone who has no fiscal interest in the transaction saying "yikes, THAT street?"  They'll never be able to tell you "yes" and you wouldn't want them to.  All you want is someone with only your interests in mind to tell you what to avoid.

And just as a random side note, I do think there are varying levels when people talk about A, B, C, D areas.  I live in San Diego and invest in Arkansas.  In my opinion, an "A" part of Arkansas is as nice a place as an "A" part of San Diego (weather aside).  But a "D" part of Little Rock is much worse than a "D" part of San Diego.  Feel free to disagree, just my opinion...