All Forum Posts by: Eric B.

@Charlie Cameron

I'm looking to invest in the Emerald Coast area. Based on my research, it seems like the area has a stable rental base (both STR in Destin and LTR for basically anything military related) with decent historic appreciation. Biggest risk to investment seems to be hurricanes.

Would you be willing to pass on the contact for the wholesaler?  I've Google'd everything under the sun that I can think of to find one, and either I overlooked the wholesaler's website or never found it.  

@Amanda Ferguson

I've just started looking for STR in the Miramar/30A area. It's a beautiful area and seems like a better place to vacation than Destin. What does a typical deal look like in that area? Even though your company does Turnkey, would you be willing to work on something similar to a BRRRR but with a STR rental strategy?

Does anyone have a contact for a good wholesaler for the Chattanooga and surrounding areas?

@Randall Alan

I grew up in Plant City but have been away for >10 years.  I have read Lakeland is booming due to its proximity to Orlando and Lakeland being a commuter town.  I've considered investing in Lakeland but don't really have a good bearing on the current environment.  It sounds somewhat favorable based on your post and you clearly know your numbers.  If you have the time, I would be interested in learning more from you about your take on the areas of Lakeland worth investing.

@Scott Passman

Thank you for taking the time to reply.  I agree networking is key and I'm working on getting that ball rolling too.  In my situation the entire country is fair game and with that comes the tough task of narrowing things down.  Many of the things you mentioned in your post are super helpful especially regarding some industries to be on the look out for.  I've come across rent:buy ratios in my search and will have to pay more attention to finding that data.  @Costin I. I did see that article come out basically at the same time as my post.  Definitely book marked it to utilize going forward.

My goal with this search is to identify 2 maybe 3 metro areas that I can begin the networking process as outlined in DG's book and see where the road takes me. I also don't plan to spend a super long time in this city level research phase.  The hope here is that the few hours I'm spending doing this research will pay off in some way going forward.

How do you decide on choosing a market when your first starting out and doing long distance real estate investing?  

I'm in the military and am currently stationed overseas.  I just finished David Greene's book, "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing," and feel like it gives a good foundation for how to get started doing everything but choosing a market.  I've asked around and read the forums for specific advice on how people do this, but so far have only really found generic advice.  Even podcast guests seem to speak the same generic advice.

• Invest where you have friends/family
• Invest where you used to live
• Invest in a market you know
• Invest where jobs are growing, the economy is doing well, or where there is good growth potential.

This is the essence of the advice I've received.  The last bit of advice is the most helpful but I struggle with coming up with the information unless I go from city to city and pull local data.  How do the big time investors like David Greene, Brandon Turner, and others choose on a market to begin their search? How do they narrow down the list of cities/metropolitan areas to a manageable one to begin their due diligence?  

I've found sites like, Rent Data, City-Data, and GDP by State which all give results from data from 2017/2018 and older.  They don't help with predicting future growth.  

So far my strategy is analogous to throwing darts at a map and looking into whatever city they hit.  I don't want to get lucky, I want to figure out a repeatable process that works so I can invest across the country with confidence.  

Am I making this process too difficult?  What do you all do to choose a new out of state market?

@Trey Dyer  Yes I would totally recommend the book.  It makes the process seem very doable.  I say seem only because I haven't done it myself yet.  I have been reading for probably a similar amount of time as you have and feel like if I don't get started I never will.  So I am going to take it one process at a time as laid out by DG's book.  As I don't have any hard and fast ties anywhere, just choosing my market is my step one.  My first goal is to have objective data that supports investment in up to 5 different markets but ideally 3. From there I will start reaching out and assembling a team

@Blake Edwards

I just finished David Greene's Book "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing."  I feel like I understand all of the principles of networking ONCE you've identified a market you want to invest in.  The biggest question I have that went unanswered in the book is, "How do you identify a market that is good to invest in?"  After scouring the forums and blog posts on BP, I see the same generic answers of, "Look for good economic growth indicators, areas with multiple industry, areas with good price to rent ratios..." but no one really gets down into the details of where to go to find such data or how they use the data to forecast in the future.

In fact, I listened to DGs second guest appearance on the BP podcast hoping he would shed some light.  Again, he talked about how he dealt with buying/rehabbing/flipping a property in a market, but not how he identified that market in the first place.  Could you offer any insight?  Similarly, how do you identify an out-of-state market that would be worthwhile to invest in?

Thanks for your time,

Eric

Hey @Trey Dyer, I am AD currently stationed overseas. I've been reading heavily on the principles of long distance investing.  In fact, just yesterday I finished David Greene's book "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing."  It answers 95% of the questions I had and actually made me feel pretty comfortable with the entire process. 

Where I have been struggling is identifying a potential market to invest in.  My biggest complaint with the book is that he does not go into how he identifies a city worthy of his investment.  I saw that there are some 18,000 metro areas spread across the US.  I just can't figure out how to whittle that number down to something manageable.  In essence, the due diligence on a city/metro area is my biggest hold up.  That being said, I'm happy to regurgitate things that I learned from Greene's book since you have a market already identified.

I wish you well post separation from the Military.  Let me know if I can help in any way.

Eric

Thanks @James Masotti.

I don't have the expectation to find a property that hits all of my criteria.  I just wanted to mention some things I am considering when making any sort of purchase.  Overall, my goal is to have a few areas for my family to at least drive through when they get to the area.  

I appreciate your list of areas to dive deeper into. I did notice that they seemed to be mostly situated in Northern Delaware. After looking at your LLC's website, this makes sense. While doing more due diligence, I realized that the Air Force base in Dover would likely be a driver for the rental market in Kent County. Do you have any insight in this regard?

If you would be open to it, I would love to be able to pick your brain a little more via PM. I am new to REI and have read extensively on the subject. I just have far less real world experience.

Thanks again,

Eric