People Advise me to start in my area but I live in LA

[Cirilo Villar]

Hello people left and right tell me to start REI in my own community but I live in LA where there is gang activity almost anywhere. Even if there's no gang activity the prices are too high? Should I try another state or county or should I keep trying to find a deal in my area

[Brian Sparr]

Hi @Cirilo Villar -

There's no right or wrong answer to this - it's personal.  For many, there's a comfort in sticking to the neighborhoods and streets that they are familiar with ... the idea of being able to drive by their property at any time of day gives them peace-of-mind ... the drawback to that, as you're experiencing, is that many local markets don't provide the returns or the number of opportunities that you're looking for.

With how easy it's become to research different markets and connect with locals in each of those areas, the challenges that investors faced 10 or 15 years ago when considering going out-of-state just don't exist anymore (assuming you're willing to put in the work to do that research and make those connections).

For me, personally, I try to be opportunistic ... I watch my local market and I watch a number of out of state markets - whichever one presents an attractive opportunity first is the one that I make a run at - if I don't get it, no big deal - I wait for the next one.

My recommendation would be for you to start by deciding how much money you're willing to invest and what type of returns you're wanting to achieve.  Once you have that, look to see if you can find those types of deals in your local market.  If you can, great - consider investing locally.  If you can't, well, you've got three choices: 1) do nothing and keep your money on the sidelines, 2) change your expectations or 3) find a different market.  My choice would be #3.

Wish you all the best!