Lately a lot of investors have been talking to me about investing out of state. There are plenty of complications to consider if you’re serious about looking into this but there are probably equally as many opportunities. I find that most of the people who are talking to me about investing in real estate in other states have been to boot camps or through some other similar real estate investor training where the numbers that these real estate boot camps advise you to adhere to simply don’t exist in our market or the deals are too few and far between to make it a worthy pursuit.

Of course the first issue you’re going to run into when you are trying to invest in real estate from afar is simply finding the property. How are you going to have any idea about what the neighborhood is like, what the local rental market is doing or anything else if you can’t get there? The easy answer to this item is to find a solid real estate professional in the area who specializes in the type of investment property you’re pursuing.[Keep in mind that when I'm talking about these hurdles I'm mainly talking to beginning investors. If you are somebody who is in the market for 100 units or more these same challenges are seriously mitigated by using professional management companies and commercial real estate investment professionals.]

Recently I was invited to join an online network of real estate investment professionals at www.investorloft.com. I was somewhat suspicious of the site at first but after I engaged and got my account setup etc., I changed my tune. This site is rigid in what they will allow to be posted. Properties have to cash-flow with only 10% down or else have to be listed at 10% under market, or lastly they can be in areas that are still poised for rapid appreciation (yes there are still some of those, check housingpredictor.com if your curious as to where they are).  I was also impressed by the agents who have listings on the site, it’s not a catch-all for anybody with a real estate license like so many other sites are, everyone I investigated is legitimately engaged primarily in selling real estate investments, and that’s really who you want to work with isn’t it?

You need an invitation code to get into this site and you can use mine ILN3P9D9 .

I’m off to Florida for the next couple of days to meet with the Tranzon team. If I have any time I’m going to try to get out and see what’s happening in that market. I look forward to reporting.