All Forum Posts by: Pete Barrow

You really have to meet some local professionals. Print up some cards, go to REIA meets, get good at walking up to people and saying, "Hi, I'm Deborah, and I'm making a start in real estate. Can you tell me a little about what you do." Then listen, get contact info. You might try to go for coffee or lunch with people who seem willing to talk to you. Long-time investors are often surprisingly willing to share what they know. Partly because they are aware that someday, you might have something to offer them in return.

I know people who've had the opposite situation: they have two separately metered waterlines. One feeds outdoor hose bibbs and sprinkler systems, and they are not billed for sewage for this line. Hard to say how a leak could cause what you describe. Maybe a glitch in the city's billing. It does happen.  

This might be the rationale behind not giving out info on a tenant who hasn't even given notice. 

Maybe you never will. That's not really a rule anyway, it's more of a rough guideline. In areas with potentially great appreciation, you are less likely to hit or exceed that number, and investors are less likely to care about it. CA seems to be one of those places. 

That's not the worst problem. The worst problem is that it's just about impossible to buy shrewdly in a city you don't know well, and you're not going to get the best deals and treatment from people who don't know you and see you as a long term customer. 

My advice to anyone considering OOS REI is to find a place close enough that you can spend at least some time on the ground there. Or a place where you have friends or family. Or a place you used to live, and know well.

The most successful OOS investors I know have spent a lot of time on the ground in their target cities. They know the neighborhoods, the trends, where other people are rehabbing, they have relationships with builders and handymen, with wholesalers, etc etc. 

Just saying.  

This. If a tenant drinks heavily but is very functional, not much you can or should do. 

Also, good smoke alarms, CO alarms, gas leak alarms, possibly as part of a system with a very loud siren. And insurance. 

This is way too intrusive. Just robo-call them late at night and ask them to count backwards by sevens. 

>Do you recommend any property management companies in that area?

Wish I could help, but no. Just Google and read reviews, you'll get a feel for who's good. 

If you don't have anyone on the ground there, you might call some PM's. Better management companies usually have areas where they'll work, and areas where they won't. Get their take on it. If good companies don't want to take your money to work there, that tells you something