All Forum Posts by: Stephen Fisher

Jerry. I've been scaling pretty rapidly on SFR with a system in place in Kansas City. Not sure if it's for you, but happy to share my experience.

Rick. Retired firefighter myself in CA who invests out of state. Seems like you have a solid foundation and background a lot of other don't when stating out. Happy to chat if you'd like. 

Early on I listened to a lot of podcasts with Brandon Turner and David Greene. There's so many good ones. I live in CA and do out of state investing. If you want to go that route I recommend David Greene. Both his BRRRR book and Long Distance Real Estate Investing. These books are practical, give you actionable steps, and aren't just rooted in theory. I followed those to a T. It wasn't all rainbows and sunshine on my journey, but there's some great information there that saved me big time. Feel free to reach out direct if you have any questions or want more specific resources. Seems like there's a lot of good people responding here.

@Mark Bennett I've been exactly where you are with the frustration on out of state investing. You definitely have to sort through inaccurate numbers and people with an agenda. 

I think the biggest problem is finding a steady source for good deal flow and making your margins work while competing against local investors.

Local investors often do more volume and as a result see deals first. So a lot of the home runs are off the table before your eyes are on it. (This issue forced me to try my hand at starting my own out of state wholesale company years ago. I'd advise against this haha). So you're probably not the first set of eyes of these sketchy deals and their isssues. 

The high volume local investors have less expensive rehab costs because they run their own crews. So they can pay more on the purchase than you can. Probably why you're losing out on escalation clauses.

Also, not all but most people see out of state investors as an opertunity to make money, not a long term partnership. Not always the case (I've found great people in both TN and MO) but there's many investors that pop in and dabble in a market. Unless you're coming in with serious cash it's hard to show up in a market and get solid deals on one-offs.

My advise would be to find good people in the market and build relationships first. Find people who talk you out of deals instead of into them and want a long term partnership with you. 

Happy to chat as I've battled with what you're experiencing. There's hope. 

I agree with everything @Caleb Brown said above.

One thing that I feel is overlooked and not pushed enough by PM is renewing leases and tenant retention. See how often they are able to retain tenants and what their strategy is for keeping them in place for multiple years. Turning units costs money on so may fronts and most PM companies are not motivated to have long term tenants. 

It's going to seem overwhelming at first. There are a lot of different ways to be successful in real estate and there is a lot to learn. My advise:

1. Get your financial house in order at home.

2. Keep it simple and learn the basics (tons of resources here).

3. Network, network, network.

4. Find the route that best fits into your lifestyle. 

5. Stay consistent.  Understand that it's a long game. It doesn't happen overnight. 

6. No need to recreate the wheel. Lots of repeatable strategies out there. 

I know that was super vague, but those were some of the things that helped me out a lot on my journey. Be a sponge and learn as much as you can early on. 

 Kendra,

Thank you for reaching out.  I'll reach out to you in the messenger.  Currently have 4 rehab projects going right now, but would like to push that number closer to 6-7.  Only thing holding me back is hassle free lending.  Looking forward to chatting. 

 Leroy,

Thanks for reaching out.  Honestly it was the fact that a good friend of mine had a solid contractor who was flying through deals.  Finding a contractor who follows through and does good work at a reasonable price has been my biggest challenge over the years.  After vetting the individual and going out there to see his work I dove deeper into the market.  Kansas City hit my bench marks.

I've taken the approach of finding good people who have been vetted and used by people I trust first.  Then seeing if that market works for my goals in regards to entry price, cash flow, and appreciation.   

 Thanks for reaching out.  Yes, I've been super impressed so far with the KC market.  I'm planning on aggressively scaling single family for the immediate future.  Lot of deals on the table and trying to keep pushing on my system.  

@Caleb Brown sounds great. I'll reach out.