All Forum Posts by: Jeff Keller

Many investors, especially from expensive areas, invest out of state. In Silicon Valley, with very high local home prices, many people invest in real estate several hundred miles away or out of state.

Understand the property and area you are investing in, and there are few reasons not to. Even if you invest locally, there are many reasons to hire a property manager.

Something you probably haven't thought about: many older people are more trusting and take people at face value. They are targets of scammers. If older people develop dementia it makes it even worse. Do you want your parents buying a new home alarm every year? How many times a week do you get a phone message saying the IRS is going to seize your bank account or have you arrested?

You should assume you will eventually become very involved in their financial affairs. Don't get them started in a direction you can't manage. If you have siblings who don't "have time" to be involved but feel they are being left out, it becomes more complicated.

Keep things headed towards relatively simple easy to understand investments.

Unless the web page has specific CSS code in it for printing, getting a nice print out is very hit and miss.

Try different browsers. Try blocking pop-ups.

Most of the time you can highlight the text you are interested in, copy it, then paste it into a blank text document created by the windows notepad or similar text editor.

Try to look at the "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report" which is also often called "Comprehensive Plan".

Example:

http://www.whitestown.in.gov/vertical/sites/%7BB8BE8AC3-9DE8-4247-BCB0-1173F48CC7C3%7D/uploads/Whitestown_Comp_Plan_FINAL.pdf

It is very location specific. Try to find a city zoning map and see if the property is near multi-family homes. If you try to do it in the middle of a single family residential area, you'll probably have neighbors fighting the change. If it is near multi-family zoned homes, and those homes have not created problems, you stand a better chance. 

Locally, home owners using their investment property for airbnb have created problems for neighbors who become very vocal about accepting anything that might make the situation worse.

If you're thoughtful about what you do, there is no reason to exclude "rougher areas." There may be more crime but almost certainly most of the people are good people. It is going to be the relatively few "rotten apples" that you have to be careful about.

A home isn't seen as a quick source by the "rotten apples" to get cash.

When demand is  very high for a class of properties, finding a similar but less popular class can be a good idea. Popular can make it very easy to get in and get out, but you may be paying a premium.

Compare the numbers. You might be surprised.

Welcome @Dylan Grabowski. Oakland is beyond where we normally travel but it appears to have a lot of change happening over the last years. With you being in the middle of it, you stand a good chance of finding some good opportunities.

Good luck investing.

75% of 250k is 187.5k. They would be loaning you an additional 82k but you would be paying a higher interest rate on 187.5k.

 $5,230 interest increases to $13,125. Thats about $8k per year to borrow another 82k

Be certain you can invest the money and get a greater return.

Many MLS listings can be viewed without being a licensed real estate agent. In Silicon Valley, http://www.mlslistings.com is the Multiple Listing Service. Licensed real estate agents can view information about how to show the property which the public can't see, but that doesn't have anything to do with deciding if it is a good investment.

There is a trend for MLS's to consolidate. However a real estate license is only valid in the state it is issued. You would have to have licenses in multiple states to have agent access to the MLS's in multiple states.