All Forum Posts by: Ali Boone

I have a couple property managers that cover my properties in Atlanta and both of them also sell to investors. I don't know what kinds of properties they're finding for folks these days, but I'm happy to ask.

Griffin, McDonough, and Locust Grove probably won't cash flow. Maybe Dalton will, but you almost may have to find an agent closer to Chattanooga for that as Atlanta agents may not go that far.

Whatever you decide to do with it, be sure to 1031 Exchange it so you don't get taxed on all of that capital gain!

My absolute go-to to get started researching an area is to talk to local agents and property managers. You don't necessarily need to know specific questions past telling them "I'm interested in investing in Tampa and I'm spinning in circles trying to figure out where. What are your recommendations?" Property managers will be able to answer pretty easily since they deal with rentals all day long (if you're interested in rentals), and with agents you can get general market trend information but you'll be better off finding an investor-friendly language who can dive deeper into the investing side.

After I talk to folks on the ground, THEN I dive more into the websites and statistics and data and such... more as a way to back up what they say than as a way of telling me what I'm trying to find out. The problem with the websites is they mostly give you data. Data is great, but you need context to be able to interpret the data. Most of us don't have that, so the data doesn't end up helping a ton. For example, people love to focus on crime stats. Well I live in Venice Beach in Los Angeles and if you focus on the crime stats here, I shouldn't be alive (possibly due to decapitation). But I walk around late at night, no problems, and there are certain dynamics around here that data would never be able to tell anyone. The data says one thing, but the reality is another...even tho all those crimes actually happen.

So, find some locals! Let them paint the picture for you, point you in certain directions to get you started, and then you can narrow down your research from there.

There's different ways to look at the risk spectrum with the different options.

If you stick with Charlotte, you decrease risk because you're local and know the area and can check on your property regularly, but you increase your risk because it's going to cost more money to buy a property and then you're likely going to be looking at negative cash flow every month (I assume, but maybe not...at least lower if not negative), so that is risky because it's your money.

If you go out-of-state, it completely depends on how you do it as to how risky it's going to be. For example, there's a big difference between buying a shack needing a big rehab in a sketchy neighborhood (PM or not) vs. buying a rent-ready/turnkey property in a solid area. The latter is wayyy less risky.

This article is specific to turnkey rental properties, but it can apply to just thinking about rent-ready properties in general... I think turnkeys can be GREAT for new investors-
https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

If you do the out-of-state thing, if you focus all your efforts on learning how to do due diligence thoroughly, that's how you dramatically decrease your risk.

Hope that helps!

It sounds like that property is a major asset, so getting rid of it wouldn't be my first thought. If you're thinking about doing that, MAKE SURE that you know where you're going to put the money so that you know you'll be getting higher returns with the new one than you're currently getting on that one. If you're not getting higher returns, there's no point. With the way the market has grown over the last few years (or decade, for that matter), it's usually pretty unlikely that if someone has a good/great deal they already own that they'll find a better deal if they sell it now. But if you do, go for it.

One alternative is to do a cash-out refi or get a HELOC with that $150k of equity and put that towards some additional properties.

I work with turnkey companies all day, every day, and I haven't heard of any in Augusta. Atlanta stopped cash flowing a while ago so turnkeys kind of disappeared there, but I don't know what impact that had on the Augusta market- if it's advantageous for turnkeys, etc. It seems like a couple years ago I heard of someone doing something turnkey out there, but can't remember who it was and haven't heard any more about it. Have you tried googling 'turnkey provider august, ga'?

Boom! Step 1: complete! Next step: stop taking advice from people who have no idea what they're talking about :)

Okay, so to solve your problem. Do you have any REI strategies that you're particularly interested in? What are your goals with investing? (feel free to actually answer those and I'll keep helping!)

Start at the beginning, and build up from there!

It depends on your comfort levels and what you can afford. Can you afford the negative cash flow that will be in play for a while until rents increase and the appreciation happens? If you go the appreciation route, it's critical not to just do it blindly--make sure you know exactly why you think a particular property should appreciate and by how much.

The alternative is you can always invest out-of-state for cash flow. You won't get as high of appreciation, but it'll be a lower cost of entry and list risk each month with cash flow. I live in California and tons of people from here invest out-of-state for the exact reason you're stating.

It's not just you or Oregon, it's the entire west coast that doesn't cash flow.

I would definitely check out Chris Clothier's book on Amazon. I have one on there as well called Turnkey Rental Properties 101: The Definitive Guide to Hands-Off Real Estate Investing. I also run a turnkeys Facebook group if you just search for turnkey rental properties on Facebook, and I have a lot of turnkey videos on YouTube (link in my profile). Lots of links for properties in all of that too.

What kind of properties are you looking for? Ones needing work or more rent-ready/turnkey? And then when thinking about buying a property, what factors are most important to you? Price, cash flow vs. appreciation potential, neighborhood quality, etc?