First out of state deal

[Kyle Press]

The story so far:

Back in 2022 I bought my first ever rental property in Washington state while I was active duty Navy. Was a 5 bed 2 bath single family house that I house hacked up until I sold it a few months ago and walked away with 1400$ on the sale 😂. I made my money in the rental process throughout the years and couldn't have asked for much better. I just moved back to New Jersey to start college after getting out of the military and am interested in my first ever out of state deal. 

Plan/intentions:

After getting a taste of how lucrative real estate investing is, I am committed to doing it long term. I knew that investing locally was out of the question due to capital restrictions so my goal was to invest in markets out of state that are no more than a 2 hour flight or about 8 hour drive away from where I live. This left me with Cleveland, Rochester, and Syracuse. My parameters are basically a duplex or higher paying no more than 125K because that is pretty much the max I can afford on a 25% down commitment. I have no income as of now because I am becoming a full time student, however I will be getting some money from the VA to use for housing to go to school. My goal is to use some of this money to supplement investing. If I can I'd like to get 1 duplex a year for the next 4 years and ramp it up after that once I start gaining more income.

the guidance/ networking part

I'm absolutely open to networking with people who have experience in these markets and am open to all guidance regarding doing this. I have 0 experience with out of state investing and want to make sure I am doing it right and making my money when I buy. Feel free to let me know. Thanks in advance! 

[Rebecca Cho]

Hey Kyle, I totally get where you’re coming from. I’m super new to this too, only got started about 2-3 months ago. But honestly, people on this forum have been so generous with their advice, and I want to give back however I can.

The biggest thing that helped me was finding the right realtor. I know it sounds cliché but that was the turning point for me. I’m currently investing in the Syracuse, NY suburbs and I found an AMAZING realtor Kiernan LaFaver at HUNT (https://www.huntrealestate.com/bio/kiernan-charleslafaver). He’s been such a great partner - extremely hardworking, super responsive, and he sends really detailed walkthrough videos that make you feel like you’re actually touring the place in person, which is very important since I’m out of state. He actually focuses on the stuff that matters - age of the roof, windows, HVAC, electric panel, that kind of thing.

I’m still very much figuring things out but in just 2 months I somehow ended up under contract on 3 properties, something I didn’t think would happen this quickly. If you ever want to talk or bounce ideas around, I’m happy to chat. I probably don't have all the answers, but I’m down to help however I can. You got this!