the.irvine,
I would agree with what Irvine commuter said. You have to find good foot in the ground people / team whom you can trust whether you decide to invest in the Carolinas or Atlanta. I believe that the most important skill for the investment broker/PM is having the ability to find, select and screen good tenants. When it comes to property management, I believe that my clients should be ones in control with full transparency, not the property management company. I favor the PM model of self-management out of state with backup support when needed to save on the fees. There are also two full service property management companies I am now working with for those who want to be completely hands off in property management.
Although investing in Santa Ana vs investing in Forsyth County are apples and oranges as median home prices in Santa Ana is much higher than the median home price of Forsyth County, the tenant profile you will find in Forsyth County is going to be very different from the profile from that of Santa Ana. I would argue to say that the median household income of a Forsyth County resident is much higher than that of a Santa Ana resident. You find tenants who are white collar professionals in Forsyth County while the median home prices are much lower than that of Santa Ana. I like to focus in B and A class assets with good schools and demographics that attracted white collar professionals. These areas are currently North Gwinnett and Forsyth County. Forsyth County is by far the strongest landlord favoring county in Georgia that I know of. Forsyth County is currently the wealthiest county in GA and the 6th fastest growing in the nation with low property taxes.
the.irvine said:
Is it possible to manage out of state rentals? Say in ATL, NC , Dallas-TX etc