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Should you buy out of state for your very first deal? What if it's your only way to get started but the risk keeps you up at night?
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Today we're tackling three new listener questions that cover exactly what new investors face. When to go remote, how to do your first burr, and how to manage from hundreds of miles away.
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This is the Real Estate Rookie podcast and I'm Ashley Kerr.
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And I'm Tony J. Robinson. With that, let's get into today's first question. So this question comes from David. Me and my wife are new to this and are saving for our first property. Our goal is to start looking for properties within the next couple of months. We have a couple of questions. Would it be wise to invest out of state for our first investment where we can find places slash websites to analyze areas that will provide positive cash flow for us. And they said they do plan to go visit it in person. Would it be wise to use a HELOC on our current residence to use as a down payment for a new property? So a couple of questions here. Basically they're saying, A, does it make sense to invest out of state? B, does it make sense to use a HELOC on their primary to fund the purchase of this investment property? And also I guess some questions on where to get the data. So, Ash, I guess I'll kick to you first few questions here. Investing long distance versus versus investing in your backyard. What's your take?
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I think it is an advantage to invest in your backyard because you have a better knowledge of the streets. You are physically there to see what's happening in the market and you probably have more contacts, vendors, real estate agents that you can lean on compared to going and finding a whole new market to invest in. But also really varies on price point. Can you afford something in your market? What can you get a return on for things in your market versus out of state? So I think if there is opportunity to make money in your market, that I would start there. I've only invested in my market. I've gone out of state two times and that was it. But it's definitely achievable to go ahead and invest out of state. I think for the heloc, part of that question as to should I use my HELOC to fund the deal? First of all, find out what the interest rate is going to be on a heloc, your home equity line of credit. This is your primary residence where if you have a mortgage on it or no mortgage, you can tap into the remaining equity into the property and Some lenders will give you like up to 80%, I've seen up to 95%. And you'll get a line of credit that you can go ahead and use. So the line of credit works as when you're making you want to use some of the money on it, you're drawing money off that line of credit and the amount you draw off, that's what you're going to currently pay interest on. So as you pay the money back, you're not paying interest on it, the line can sit there, still be available for you to use. That's what I like about heloc. The pros and cons of a HELOC is that you can, you know, use that money whenever you want. You can go ahead and pull it off. You don't need to get the bank's permission to purchase a property with it. And the cons are that there's no set repayment plan and you're just paying interest on it until it is is paid back. And I think that as long as you're like diligent that you're actually going to make payments more than just the interest payment because that's what you'll get the bill for. In most cases I have seen it where the line of credit will actually convert to some kind of amortization. So like if you haven't paid the line of credit off in two years or something, whatever the balance due is, it will convert it into a 15 year fixed loan where you're now making monthly payments of principal and interest. I like a line of credit for full purchases of a property. So if you can get a line of credit big enough to actually purchase a property in cash, that's a huge advantage to be able to make a cash offer, not have to go through the hoops of getting financing on the property. If you are going to use that line of credit for a down payment and then go ahead and get financing on the property, that's where I don't like it because it gets more risky because now you are 100% leveraged on this property. You have the line of credit debt, you have the mortgage on the property. And I like to see some kind of equity in the property. Maybe if you're getting a slam dunk deal and you're buying the property way under market value and there's already going to be baked in equity, this can work. But also you have to figure out some kind of repayment plan for that line of credit. So if you're going to do a burr, you're going to rent the property, turn it into short term rental. However that property is making money, you're going to make sure that the actual rental income will cover repaying back the line of credit or repaying back the, and repaying back, I'm sorry, the mortgage that's on the property too. If you're going to do a flip, the line of credit works great to purchase it in cash and then go ahead and refinance or I'm sorry, not refinance, but go ahead when you sell the property to repay back the line of credit.
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Couldn't agree more, Ash. I think the lines of credit, whether it's a heloc, a commercial line of credit, whatever it may be, short term projects make more sense for that for all the reasons that you mentioned. But I think going back to the original part of the question of invest locally or in your backyard, again, agree with everything you share. But I think they've got to answer the question David does of what is his actual motivation for investing in real estate. And you know, we harp on this a lot on the show, but only because it's such an important question to ask because it dictates what strategy makes the most sense for you. David, are you looking for cash flow or do you want to maximize cash flow? Are you looking for long term appreciation so that you know in 30 years when this thing is paid off, you've also appreciated massively? Are you looking for tax benefits like what are, what is your actual motivation for doing this and what's most important, what's second most important, what's third most important? Because it's very rare, but you'll find a market that equally satisfies great cash flow, great appreciation, amazing tax benefits, you know, class A neighbor? Like it's hard to get all of those things in one market. So if you have identified what's most important to you or once you do that, then you can just take that, compare it to your backyard and say is it actually achieving what I want to achieve? If you're most concerned with maximizing your cash flow and you just want to buy single family long term rentals is your strategy, but you live in some super high cost of living market, California, New York, wherever it may be, then maybe your backyard doesn't make a ton of sense, right? Because it might be hard to cash flow on a traditional single family home in a super high cost of living area. But if your goal is appreciation and you've got the means and resources to actually buy in that market, then by all means Go in your backyard. If your goal is appreciation and you live in, you know, small town usa, then maybe it's a little bit harder to make that argument make sense as well. So it comes down to your motivations. Why are you doing this? And it comes down to your resources. And I think the combination of those two things, why am I doing this? How much cash do I have? What kind of loan can I get approved for? Those three things together I think will help dictate what cities you should be investing in.
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And also thinking about too, that your first deal doesn't have to be a home run deal, that you don't have to spend all this time in analysis paralysis, saying like, okay, well, this market I can get this cash flow, this cash and cash return. Oh wait, this market I can get a little bit more. This market I can get a little bit more. And, and like trying to weigh out how you are going to maximize your money. We get questions all the time. I have, you know, $50,000, I have a hundred thousand dollars. What is the best thing that I can do with that money? What is going to give me the best return? There are probably a million different options strategies that you could do with that money. You could take, you know, buy 10 properties by putting $10,000 down in each property. There's so much different ways that you can implement that money. And I think the biggest thing is just finding something where the deal works. And just like Tony said, what is your. Why would you want out of real estate if a deal works for that? Get started. Don't try to overanalyze and find that perfect deal that you're going to get. The best deal that anyone has ever gotten with a hundred thousand dollars. And you got to shift your mindset to know that it's okay if you don't get that the biggest return on your first deal. I didn't. I gave away equity. I paid interest to my partner. I gave them part of the cash flow. Like I gave up so much just to get that first deal done. But it propelled me into my investing journey. Okay, we have to take a quick ad break, but when we come back, we want to talk about once you've chosen your market and your funding plan, how do you actually stack your financing and, and make sure the BR math works. We'll break it down for you right after a quick word from our show sponsors.
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Our next question comes from Erin in the BP forums. There are so many loan options out there that I need help focusing my education to the most important ones. And that raises the first question I'm having a hard time understanding. For the experienced BRRRR investors, are there typically three loans in play or just two? One Is the loan to purchase the property.
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Two.
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Is the loan to rehab the property. Three. The refinance loan? Or are the experienced investors typically seeking to combine steps one and two into a single loan, a fix and flip or some alternative? So one a loan to purchase and rehab the property and then the second one just to refinance this is actually a great question because there are so many different ways that you could actually do this.
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It could be split a million different ways. Right. And I think we've both done and seen it done a lot of different ways.
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I, I think I'll start with what I typically do and when I'm doing a brrrr on the A property, I typically find a way to purchase the property where I'm not getting funding on the deal through like a bank loan, I'm finding a private money lender, I'm using a line of credit or I'm using cash that I've saved up to actually purchase the property. Don't forget, I'm in a very, very low cost market, so this isn't a million dollars I'm spending here on a property, but I'll do that. And then I will also do the same for the rehab where I'm using one of those three things and then I will go and refinance, get a actual loan on the property and I will pay back my line of credit or my private money lender or pay myself back back. And that's how I typically have done it. But you could go out and do any of the ways that Aaron mentioned. So you could go out and get a property, you could put 20% down, you could go ahead and fix it up using. I've seen people use credit cards, I've seen people use money from their parents. I've seen them use, you know, pull borrow money from their 401k to pay for the rehab. And then when you're done with the rehab, you have it rented out, going and getting a loan on the property and then you are, you know, paying off that first loan that you had gotten. So doing that refinance where you're paying back that first loan and then you know, extra, hopefully you have extra money left over to pay back. However you did the rehab on the property.
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Yeah, I mean that, you know, the, the paying cash for the purchase and the renovation is like the traditional Burr. Like if you go back and you read David Green's Burr book for bigger pockets, that was his approach. He would save up a bunch of cash, pay for both the purchase and the acquisition. And the only loan that would come into play was the refinance loan at the end. So there is a situation where it's just one loan for me and my business. It's been very similar to what Ashley said. Typically if we're doing some sort of renovation, we're raising private capital to fund both the purchase and the renovation. So there's technically like, I mean, it is a loan, right? I mean, there is a loan there because, you know, we give a promissory note, like we do all of the documentation. There's just no bank involved per se. And then once we refinance on the back end, that's when we go out to, to get traditional long term fixed debt. So really it's, I think, to answer the question, it really comes down to you, your resources and your strategy, right? So you, your resources and your strategy. And if you have enough cash to cover both the purchase and the renovation, you don't need to go out and get debt up front, just do it yourself. If you have access to capital because of your network, you don't need to go to a bank. Go to your network, have them fund the purchase and the transaction. If you have neither, right, where you don't have enough to pay in cash, you don't have a network, then yeah, going out and getting some sort of hard money, some sort of construction debt would be your best option to do the initial acquisition and rehab and yeah, go out and get permanent fixed debt from, from somewhere else. So there's a million different ways that you can slice it. I think it comes down to again, you, the project, your resources, your, your.
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Network, and also really determining what the costs are to you for doing each of those options. So if you're going out and you're getting a mortgage on the property, you're going to have closing costs. If you're in New York, you're going to have attorney fees, things like that, to actually purchase the money with, you know, a conventional loan or bank financing. Then if you borrow the money for the rehab, and maybe you are putting all the rehab materials on a credit card. If you can't get a 0% interest card, then maybe you're paying that really, really high interest on the credit card that you need to factor that in when you go and refinance. What are going to be the closing costs, the fees that are associated with that. And I think you have to look at all the costs that are associated with the type of money that you're getting and how you're going to fund the deal to actually figure out what your holding costs are and, and what actually makes sense if you do have different options to actually fund your deal. So if I'm funding cash into, you know, my property and that's how I'm using it to hold, my holding costs are a lot less than if I went out and, you know, used private money or if I used hard money or even just a bank to purchase a property. But also that means that I don't have that chunk of money anymore. So there is some, you know, like I'm putting, you know, a huge chunk of, of money in there myself where I could be taking that money and maybe doing something else with it that, that had a bigger return or, you know, earning interest on that money in a high yield savings account, whatever that may be. And then also it goes opposite way too. If you get a private money lender, you get a hard money lender, and all of a sudden your property isn't refinancing like you thought, and it's not getting that after repair values on appraising for what you thought, there's that risk in not being able to pay back the lender in full because the deal didn't work out what you thought. So weighing out the cost of using the different types of funding and also the risk of the different types of funding that you're doing too.
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And just on the risk piece, I think there is one part of the burr that some investors overlook. But regardless of what cash loan debt you use to purchase and rehab the property, oftentimes when you go to refinance, lenders want a, a seasoning period. Basically they want to see you have owned that property for at least some period of time before they'll allow you to refinance and take capital back out of that deal. Usually what I've seen is six months, Ash, you know, let me know if you've seen something different. I know there are some banks, maybe local, regional, smaller ones, that are a little bit more flexible there, but I believe for most it's six months. And I don't know if that's like a Fannie and Freddie thing where like they want to see six months or you know, if, if you're working with like a bank that keeps all their books, all their loans on their own books, maybe they got some more flexibility there. But typically six months is what you see. So for example, let's say that you buy a property and you know, I, I'll use round numbers here. Let's say the property's ARV is $1 million. And let's say that you're all in cost to buy it, to renovate it, your holding cost, everything came out to $600,000. And the bank says, hey, we'll give you 80% loan to value, right? So they're going to give you $800,000, 80% of 1 million and 800,000 you only owe, right? Your costs are only 600. You've got a spread there of 200k that you could tap into if you do that that refinance if it's been less than six months. Oftentimes they'll only allow you to refinance your total cost into that deal. So you could refinance but it would be for 600k, meaning you get no cash out. But if you wait the full six months then you could access all the way up to the 80% or the $800,000. You pay off your 600k of your costs, you get to keep that 200k tax free. And now you get some cash back for doing this this burr. So just know and ask those questions as you're looking into do your refinance of hey, what is the seasoning period that you'd be looking for? All right guys, we're going to take a quick break before our last question, but while we're gone, be sure to subscribe to the real estate Ricky YouTube channel. You can find us at realestate Rickey and we'll be back with more right after this.
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All right, let's get into our third and final question. This one comes from Jay. Jay says I'm curious if anyone has a checklist that they go through when evaluating a new property management company for out of state investing. Any questions you specifically asked, any questions you specifically ask, any red flags that you see away from or any processes that you have in place. So you know, he says out of state investment. But honestly, I think this is either in state or out of state. There's probably some foundational things you should understand. I I'll give my experience of finding my first property management company. This was back in2018, maybe 2017 when I started looking for them, but they took over in 2018. Nonetheless, I found my property management company by doing a few things. One, I asked my agent in that market for a couple of referrals. I just searched, you know, property management company, Shreveport, Louisiana. And then I think I had like a list of like three or five or so that, that I found. And then I just called them. And surprisingly, you know, out of the five that I called or like tried to contact, I think I only heard back from like two or three of them. Right. So there's a couple that didn't even respond to me. And then of the ones that responded, I met them for coffee. Like I went out to Louisiana and I had coffee with them and tried to ask them, get a sense of who they are and what's going on. And I think through that I was able to kind of understand, okay, who, who's super responsive, right? Like what are their teams look like? Is this a one man or one woman show or is there like an actual team behind them? What is their knowledge of the markets? I just asked them, okay, how long are your units sitting typically? You know, what are you doing to actually market these properties? What does your process look like for turnover? Just trying to understand for me at the time as a rookie, what are all the things that they, they're going to be handling for me that I should be aware of? I would encourage you to review their contract because every PM is going to have maybe a slightly different contract they're stepping into. And knowing what their fees and what their costs are, what are all the different ways they make money is important as well. A lot of rookies mistakenly assume that the only way that PMs make money is from their management fee every single month. And while that's maybe the main way, they also make money from doing things like leasing your unit. And they'll charge you a bigger fee anytime there's a turnover and they have to place a new tenant. If they're taking care of your maintenance for you, maybe there's costs associated with that. So, you know, if you get into short term rental spaces, even a lot more ways, there's like tech fees and pricing fees and different things they can add on. So just get a full understanding of their fee structure. That's how I started. Ash, I'm curious for you, right, because you've done it yourself, you've used PMs, what checklist or how are you evaluating PM companies?
A
Yeah, actually on biggerpockets we have article that was written that is literally 78 questions to ask a property manager And I'm going to link it into the show notes for you guys.
B
Not 70, not 80, but 78. Okay, there you go. Very specific.
A
So, yeah, you could go ahead and go through this whole list and, you know, pick and choose what you want to ask. Or you could probably send over the whole list of questions to a property manager and the one that actually answers it may be the best one just by having them go through all the questions. But for me, I had a property management company for three years and some of the mistakes I made when hiring them was I picked the company because of its marketing. They were so great at marketing that I was just like, wow, this must be the best, the best company. Wrong, wrong mindset to have. Just like if you're following someone on social media, oh, they, they must be successful. They have a lot of followers. Okay, that was literally my mindset. I'm picking the property management company and I only interviewed them. And so we did the interview process and the mistake I made was asking yes or no questions. So like, do you manage apartment complexes? And it should have been, you know, how many units in an apartment complex do you manage? Like, I think that, you know, I was working with a partner and we were both giving him our properties and he had a 40 unit apartment and that was like going to be way bigger than any other unit they've ever managed. And managing a 40 unit is completely different than managing a 5 unit. So that was a big mistake there. So not getting more specific. Another way to ask a question, whenever you're vetting any, anyone like lenders, agents, like asking, how many investor deals have you done in the past month? So like for a property management company, it could be, you know, how many turnovers or vacancies are you filling on average each month or something like that, you know, where they have to give you a specific number or how many apartment complexes that you know, you have that each have how many units. So tailoring questions more towards that. And then like Tony had said, the fees, that was a big thing that I did not understand as to like how many additional fees for every little thing. And then just the, the maintenance cost and turnover cost process. So for example, they, partly through our management, they decided to implement inspections throughout the property. So twice a year they would go into each property and do like. And it was supposed to be like proactive. And at first this sounds like a great idea, but then the cost just started to add up so much they were charging a fee to go and do it. I can't remember. It was like, somewhere between 45 and 75 a unit to go in and to walk through it. Then they would make a list of, like, things they think that needed to be done, like maybe the furnace filter changed or batteries put in the smoke detector, other things like that. So then they'd make their list, and then they would go ahead and schedule again to go ahead and fix these things and put them on. I'm all about being a proactive landlord. Here's where I saw the problem is, together we had about 130 units, me and this other investor, and we were under the, you know, the same PM contract, and they quoted us out for, like, getting new smoke detectors for, like, half of the units or something like that. Just updating them, whatever. And all of them were at cost. And right there was like, okay, where can we get, like, the bulk order from? Like, I'm looking at Lowe's right now. If I get 10, I can get them for, like, $2 cheaper for each of them. Just me on the Lowe's website ordering 10. So, like, I think having a really good understanding of what the costs are associated with maintenance and how they're figured out. Are they getting discounts on materials, you know, are they doing those inspections and what are the costs associated with that? What changes can they make to their actual process? So, like, this was a. This was told, like, this is happening. You are getting these inspections. What other things could you implement throughout the year that maybe we don't have in our property management agreement that that could come up? So I think I was really focused on, oh, I can't wait to get this, you know, off my shoulders and have somebody else take care of all this that I didn't understand and ask enough questions.
B
And I think the last thing you said, Ashley, is the lesson for all of the rookies that are listening. Even if you hire a property manager, even if they're handling all the day to day, you still have an obligation and a need to manage the property manager, because no one's going to look after your asset the same way that you do. Even in the world's best pm, you're not their only client. They have hundreds, maybe thousands of other properties that they're managing. So you've got to be your own best advocate. And part of that is managing the pm, asking all of those questions, holding them accountable, and then not being afraid to make the change if it's in the best interest of your business.
A
Yeah, and I think, too, is to, like, there's just things that they don't do. That you want to do for your property too. Like they're most likely not quoting out your insurance every year. They're most likely not checking your water bill. Like the, the PM company I use, they just had like a payables department where like everybody's bills got sent there for all of the properties they manage is just somebody scanning them in, setting them to pay, not actually like looking be like, wow, this person's water bill is three, three times higher. Their toilet might be running and they haven't told us but the owner is paying it. So you know, I think that was like a big thing too is like you really do need to go through detail by detail your owner statement and seeing what you're being billed for and seeing what your payables actually look like and just having that, that oversight on your property. Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today. I'm Ashley, he's to Tony and we'll see you guys on the next episode of Real Estate. Ricky.
B
Hey Rickies. If you're watching this, we want you to apply to be a guest on the real estate rookie podcast. That's right. Ashley and I are looking for amazing stories just like yours to be a part of our real estate rookie podcast. Now look, you don't need to be an expert, you don't need to have done thousands of deals. Even if you've done one deal, your story could help inspire the next listener.
A
As a rookie investor. Especially if you just got your first deal. It is all fresh in your minds and you are the best person person to tell your story, give your experience on how you got it done to help someone else get their first deal.
B
So head over to biggerpockets.com guest if you want to be a part of our show again. That's biggerpockets.com guest and we'd love to have you on.
D
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Episode Title: Local vs. Out-of-State Investing: Where to Buy Your First Rental (Rookie Reply)
Hosts: Ashley Kehr & Tony J. Robinson
Release Date: November 28, 2025
Podcast: BiggerPockets Real Estate Rookie
In this “Rookie Reply” episode, Ashley and Tony dig into three common questions from new real estate investors:
The tone is supportive and practical, addressing the real risks, mindsets, and strategies for beginners in the rental property arena.
([00:00]-[09:04])
“I think it is an advantage to invest in your backyard because you have a better knowledge of the streets. You are physically there to see what's happening in the market…”
— Ashley Kehr (01:15)
“It comes down to your motivations. Why are you doing this? And it comes down to your resources.”
— Tony J. Robinson (06:45)
“Your first deal doesn’t have to be a home run… I gave away equity, paid interest, gave up so much just to get that first deal done. But it propelled me into my investing journey.”
— Ashley Kehr (07:51)
([10:58]-[19:01])
“I typically find a way to purchase the property where I'm not getting funding on the deal through like a bank loan. I'm finding a private money lender, using a line of credit, or using cash that I've saved up…”
— Ashley Kehr (11:54)
“Weighing out the cost of using the different types of funding and also the risk of the different types of funding that you’re doing too.”
— Ashley Kehr (16:37)
“Oftentimes when you go to refinance, lenders want a, a seasoning period. Basically, they want to see you have owned that property for at least some period of time before they'll allow you to refinance and take capital back out of that deal. Usually... six months.”
— Tony J. Robinson (17:07)
([21:53]-[29:37])
“Out of the five that I called or tried to contact, I think I only heard back from two or three of them… I met them for coffee… What are their teams like? Is this a one-man show?”
— Tony J. Robinson (22:26)
“A lot of rookies mistakenly assume that the only way that PMs make money is from their management fee every single month... they also make money from doing things like leasing your unit, or anytime there's a turnover, and if they're taking care of your maintenance for you.”
— Tony J. Robinson (23:33)
“There are just things that they don’t do that you want to do for your property too… you really do need to go through detail by detail your owner statement and see what you’re being billed for.”
— Ashley Kehr (29:37)
Ashley Kehr:
Tony J. Robinson:
Ashley and Tony provided practical, reassuring advice for rookies weighing whether to invest at home or out-of-state, untangled the complexity of BRRRR financing, and shared hard-won lessons about picking and working with property managers. The central message: clarity on your goals and thorough due diligence matter more than “perfect” deals or markets, and firsthand experience will build your investing skills fastest.
For full resource lists, article links, and detailed question checklists, see the episode’s show notes at BiggerPockets.com/rookie.