Newbie Here, wanting to put myself out there!

[Amanda M Laird]

So I’m new to bigger pockets (my first post so far!) I’ve been diving into real estate books and listening to podcasts since last October. I have two houses that have about $200k equity in each of them. One is a vacation rental and the other is my personal. I’ve put a ton of sweat equity into both, and am wanting to cash out and use that money to invest as a down payment for a multi family apartment complex.  

While we finish fixing up my house, and work on selling both I want to use that time learning as much as possible and looking into the best markets even if that means out of state. Is there any websites or forums or books....anything that has information on how to find the best places to invest in? I’ve heard the grant cardone interviews on a couple different podcasts and love his philosophy and want to dive into a larger unit complex...but definitely want to learn more and do more due diligence before I do. Any tips or suggestions would be ammmmazing!

Shout out to any fellow Oregonians :-) Im over on the coast in lil ol Seaside!

[Joe Sanada]

@Amanda M Laird, I'm kind of in the same boat as you: I have a bunch of equity in my condo in CA and I'm looking to take that and invest it somewhere else.

I've spent the last month or so basically just doing research to try and figure out where the "best" market is. I have found that there are a million different websites that have a million different answers to the question "what is the best city for investors." 

The problem is that there is no website that knows your exact investment strategy, goals, risk tolerance, and priorities. They are all looking at some key metric (or a variety of metrics) that is important to them, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their conclusions are going to be the right fit for you. For example, I have seen several articles that say that San Francisco is one of the "best cities for investors" because all they are looking at is property appreciation rates over the last few years. But, for someone wanting to get into the rental business, I can't think of many places worse than San Francisco to start looking.

It is kind of the same in here. In addition to everyone having different priorities and opinions, odds are that if someone is saying "XYZ is the absolute best market for investors!" you can check out their profile and find out that they are wholesalers (or property managers, etc) in that market. I.e., they are trying to sell you something.

Decide what your key metrics/priorities are and what your strategy is going to be. Then check out the midwest (Cleveland, Columbus, and Indianapolis are common options), Texas (San Antonio and Dallas/Fort Worth are common options), Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, and Alabama. I think those are the most common areas that people are talking about right now.

If you do happen to find the indisputably best market for investors, message me. :)