All Forum Posts by: Mehran K.

I'd say it depends on your market. If I lived in a strong cash flow market, I would buy a local rental. This is mainly because my goal right now is to produce cash flow with my investments. With that focus, I'm not going to buy a local rental here in Los Angeles that doesn't cash flow well just because it's close by :) The saying goes "Live where you want to live. Invest where the numbers make sense." One other thing to consider is the landlord/tenant laws in the potential state/city you're looking into also. My local landlord/tenant laws suck! They are much more landlord friendly in the areas I invest.

Try starting out with a list of all the fears/challenges you see yourself facing with investing out of state. Ask around or do some research on ways investors mitigate the risks of those situations or deal with the problems all together. 

As you can see, everyone's helpful here and I'm sure if you keep asking the right questions you'll eventually feel comfortable enough to move forward :)

Thanks for the mention @Ali Boone!

That'd be awesome Brie.

Amazing progress @Brie Schmidt! What an inspiration :) Can't wait until I leave my job one day.

Not every market is going to net you a positive cash flow if you're using the 50% rule. That's just the way it is! That rent seems like it would barely even cover the mortgage!

I purchased an SFH to live in as my primary (3 bed, 3 bath) for $450k in 2012. I decided to rent out the 2 spare rooms for a total of $1550 and live in the master bedroom. I invest out of state for my cash flow. The extra funds I'm getting from the room rentals has definitely helped me save money :)

1. Buying sight-unseen is do-able. But it is ALWAYS a better idea to see things first. It's not required though.

2. Again, it's worth it, but not required. I would suggest it for a first purchase for sure.

3. I suggest AGAINST self managing from a distance. Someone needs to be there on the ground to manage the day to day in my opinion. 

I believe there USED to be a rule like this, but they changed it. You can also ask for the contact information of the buyers lender and just confirm.

Here is a small article: Sell to FHA Buyer

Hey there @Steven Helton! Thanks for joining the forums and introducing yourself. I am said guy from CA investing in Milwaukee and I just wanted to say hello and welcome you here :)

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Everyone here is helpful!

Hey there @Lukasz Kownacki

I'd start with a "New Landlord Welcome Letter". You can do a google search to get some ideas. Here is a pretty decent one that you can edit: Intro Letter

Do you have a copy of the old lease? Is it still in effect? If the current lease is very basic and doesn't cover all your bases, you might want to consider having them sign a new rock-solid lease to protect yourself. 

I'm not sure what rental license and inspections you're referring to though. That may be a local thing and someone from your area may have to chime in on that! 

I'm selling my primary residence in SoCal very soon to realize the appreciation that has occurred over the past 3 years. I've bought quite a few assets by tapping the equity and it will feel good to wipe the debt clean and walk away with more capital and all these properties the appreciation bought me. Will the market go up more? Maybe, but I'm fighting the "addiction" mentioned in the video and making a move while it's still "up". No need to be at the top!

Some markets haven't even recovered much from the crash and are still filled with foreclosures. I think if we see another drop in REI, those markets won't change so drastically. But the markets that have made a huge comeback, could possibly have a big correction coming. I hope that happens after I sell actually :)

I'm relatively new at this as far as long term cycles goes, so I could just be way off and the local market continues to appreciate for the next 10 years. Then I'd be kicking myself in the butt for selling hah :)

Grats on digging into a good situation by looking for a 2/3 unit property to be an owner occupant. I agree with the current owner that you can't find a better tenant! You can try to move into the place and let the current tenant know that you won't raise the rent immediately. But you can let her know you'll increase by 10% (to $495) within 12 months and keep it at that. Not sure exactly what her income is and whether or not she can afford the 10% increase. Just an idea!

This is all assuming the rest of the numbers makes sense. I currently have a tenant in a duplex that pays $525 a month and market rent is $650 easily. He pays every month and has been there for years. I eventually will increase the rent a bit, but I prefer to have that unit occupied while I work on some other ones.