All Forum Posts by: Steve Kontos

@Angela Choi

As someone who grew up in Queens, my advice to you is to think about this.  There are A LOT of variables involved in doing this and there's a lot of risk.  

What I did (years ago when deciding whether to buy or rent in Queens) was to sit down and list out the pros and cons. Once I did this I quickly realized that I would rather put my money towards investment properties while renting so that years later my passive income could cover my mortgage payment when buying a house.  Based on my experiences (again just talking from my personal situation), it was an extremely good decision because I not only had monthly cash flow covering my current mortgage payments but through selling a couple of smaller investment properties I even had the down payment covered!  

@Steve Rozenberg

100% agreed.

I always tell people that are looking to invest out of state that one of the best approaches I personally used was to find someone who has done it successfully and learn from them.   I honestly didn't care about the "cost" or "fees" associated with it, I just wanted into the business badly and did whatever I had to do to get my feet in the door.  I love this business because at the end of the day, your hard work does pays off and it's fun.

@Steve Rozenberg

Luckily with technology and just overall accessibility everywhere, the time to invest out of state has never been better.  I began investing out of state close to 13 years ago and haven't looked back since.  It's about putting together good systems and teams in place.  The truth of the matter is real estate investing is risky whether it's local or from a distance.  It's about mitigating the risk as much as you can.  

@Andrew Reid

One of the main filter systems I used when starting out is to go to a landlord friendly state.  As an active out of state investor, I like the idea of knowing that at least I can reduce my overall investment risk by having the eviction laws favor the owner rather than the tenants.

@Charles Xia

Numbers here in the NYC area do not make sense.  I too recommend attending various networking events and begin the process of exposing yourself to the world.  It will only be a matter of time before you run into other like-minded individuals. 

Also just as an FYI, out of state investing for us NYers is a great option (I'm also biased because that's what I do).  Best of luck!

@Jorge Gordon

First off kudos to you for what you have done so far.  Secondly, I recommend leveraging to grow.  The issue with answering your questions is that every individual has different goals and ways they should approach the "next steps" depending on their financial situations.  While you did provide a certain level of detail, it's not enough to grant you a very specific answer.  For example, what kind of investing are you looking to do, flipping, buy and hold, wholesaling, etc?  Also where would you like to expend your portfolio, locally or out of state?  

I highly recommend attending networking events and speaking to individuals who you would like to possibly work with to help scale up.  Best of luck!

@Rachel Chavez

The key to investing out of state will boil down to the team you have in place.  As someone who invests out of state myself, having adequate systems in place in terms of team players and experience helped mitigate some of the risk.  Maybe partnering with someone in Jacksonville initially might not be a bad idea.  You want to find individuals who can become your long term team members.  Bets of luck!

@Viktoria Barrett

It's all about what your end goals are.  When I started in this business, I thought getting a real estate license was going to be useful only to find out it was a waste of time in terms of what I was looking to do for investments.  

A more effective method is to read and attend various networking events.  It's through attending events, you can find individuals who can help you invest.

@Andrew Moullin

I would attend various networking events and meet as many people as you can.  The more exposure you provide, the greater chance you have of finding the individual who can help you.

@Bernie Indig

As someone who lives in NYC I can tell you deals here are not great.  I have been investing out of state for over 12 years now and your rate of return is definitely good IF you have the right systems and teams in place.  My recommendation is network and speak to others who have successfully invested out of state.  You do not want to use your funds and take chances when you could easily avoid certain mistakes.  Best of luck!