All Forum Posts by: Manco Snead

Ok, inventory is low right now. What has made it low relative to 5 or 10 years ago when it may not have been low? Yes, a lack of building, but a low inventory is only low relative to the number people looking to buy. So, has the US population simply increased? Disproportionate number of short term rentals? Wealthy people with second homes sitting vacant?

RE Investor/travel health care worker here. What's happening with many "travel nurse" STRs right now is that owners are increasing rent to unethical levels. There are rental housing shortages in many places now, so it has become easy for owners to do this. Many owners seem to not be thinking for themselves in regards to a reasonable rent amount and have blindly subscribed to the maximize profit mantra. Or maybe they don't care. It's become a classic case of just because you can doesn't mean you should.

@Angel Wu Regarding finding a good property manager; I haven't figured out how to do that. It seems like even if you research the company, issues may not be visible until you've already become involved with them. Regardless, don't underestimate how much influence they can have, good/bad, on your whole OOS deal. I've had some real nightmares with property management companies. But I also know there are some good ones out there. I'm a novice; I would find someone who has a quite a few oos properties and been doing this for a long time and see what has worked for them. 

I would highly recommend having your first rental be local. There is too much to learn with the first property. The out of state wild card will be property management;  it's hard to find a good PM and if you get a bad one your life will become very complicated.

The Big Short. There should be a whole class based around it in high school.

Always be very wary of property management companies. Best case scenario they'll never manage it as well as you would yourself.

Most of them are horrible. If it all possible self manage and avoid them. And if they're not horrible they will  still never care for your property as well as you would do it yourself.

Side note; if it is at all possible to manage the property yourself and stay away from property management you will be better off.

My opinion is that if this is your first investment property, do it locally so you can manage it yourself. I know the CA market is ridiculous. There is so much learning that happens with the first property. Out of state is difficult enough with experience, and without it you're at the mercy of a property manager that may or may not care about you and your investment.

Just a side note. Don't know your RE history, but I would highly recommend not buying a rental out of state as your first property. Your first one is complicated enough when it's right down the street. Out of state always has the potential (on the worst case end of the spectrum) to be a nightmare. And the nightmare will be the result of poor property management, if you're planning on hiring it out. You'll get a ton of vital experience if you can buy and manage your first rental when it's in your home town.

Also notice that many area recommendations on these forums are from realtors who are from these same areas...