Is a 2.5 hour drive too far away for a rental property? Houses where I live (Toronto) are super expensive and it's hard to get much cash flow out of them, even in the Greater Toronto Area. However London Ontario is about 2 hours away and prices seem a lot more normal there. Is the distance a huge issue or can it be overcome?
Rental Property Investor · Omaha, NE · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
9y
Steven Zahanov
I don't think it is too far depending on a few factors.
What kind of property is it? Do you plan on managing yourself or using a PM? How many units is it?
An A class single family home would probably be easier to handle than a C class 20 unit apartment complex.
Rental Property Investor · Omaha, NE · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
9y
Steven Zahanov
I don't think it is too far depending on a few factors.
What kind of property is it? Do you plan on managing yourself or using a PM? How many units is it?
An A class single family home would probably be easier to handle than a C class 20 unit apartment complex.
Rental Property Investor · Wake Forest, NC · Member since 2016 · 186 posts · 78 votes
9y
Yes and No. It depends on the time you have and if you are accustomed to driving that distance although, I would not assume you would be driving there on a regular basis. I drive about 2 hours to one of my properties and do not have property management. To some people that is ridiculous but we take 3.5 hour trips almost every month to VA just for leisure so for us it is nothing. If 2.5 hours seems too long of a drive for you I recommend just hiring a PM or if legal, paying a friend to help you manage them.
Rental Property Investor · Northern, CA · Member since 2012 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
9y
Some investors buy properties much further than that away from where they live and are able to make it work, but I would say it depends on what your plan is. If you plan to personally drive there every time something needs to be done (i.e. showing the property, repair, etc), then I would say it's too far away (at least it would be for me). However, if you're going to have other people local to the area to take care of those thing (i.e. property manager to show the property, handyman that can handle repairs, etc), then I would say it's totally doable.
Rental Property Investor · Oakville/ Brantford, Ontario · Member since 2015 · 147 posts · 91 votes
9y
Hi Steven Zahanov ,
It depends... why are you choosing London?
If it's just the price point then I would say no...
My advice is that you look at the fundamentals of London. For example, is it bringing people and jobs to the city, new transportation, who will your tenant base be? If it is student rentals do you know if it's saturated? What is the vacancy rate? Average household income in London? What rent will you be able to change (ps it will be lower than toronto so what would tour cash-flow look like?)
Being near you and buying a little further away myself as you are looking to do is not a bad thing but lower prices shouldn't be your only factor to consider.
Hope this helps!
Is a 2.5 hour drive too far away for a rental property? Houses where I live (Toronto) are super expensive and it's hard to get much cash flow out of them, even in the Greater Toronto Area. However London Ontario is about 2 hours away and prices seem a lot more normal there. Is the distance a huge issue or can it be overcome?
If the cash flow is good, you should just hire a PM and make some initial trips. Once everything settles down, you can visit once in a while on as needed basis. If the PM is good, you won't even have to do that.