Long-Distance Real Estate Investing for Women
Long-distance real estate investing is becoming more popular than ever. There are tons of opportunities to build wealth and achieve financial freedom without being physically in the same location as your investments. Plus, the U.S. ranks as one of the top destinations for foreigners looking to invest in real estate.
So, as a woman looking for a path to true financial independence and security, while gaining autonomy, this is an opportunity for you. You don’t have to live in the same area as a strong real estate market or limit yourself to real estate properties in your local area that match your investment goals.
Long-distance real estate investing is one of the most preferred ways to manage any real estate investment. On many occasions, you’ll only manage your properties using a phone and computer, freeing up time to manage your other responsibilities. It empowers you to diversify your investments, generate passive income, and secure your financial future.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore what long-distance real estate investing is, the unique benefits it offers for women, the risks to prepare for, and the steps you can take to get started on your journey to financial independence.
Key Takeaways
- Long-distance real estate investing is a suitable way to capitalize on better market conditions and investment opportunities that are not available in your immediate geographic area.
- It allows you to invest remotely for higher returns, diversify your investments, enjoy the potential to generate passive income, enjoy flexibility, and build your financial security.
- Conducting thorough market research, building your own team, and understanding diverse tax laws and local economic factors are vital when investing in places outside your local area.
What is Long-Distance Real Estate Investing?
Long-distance real estate investing means purchasing or renting properties outside of your immediate geographic area. This approach allows you to tap into markets with potentially higher rental yields, lower property taxes, or specific properties unavailable in your local area.
For instance, if you live in places with high cost of living such as New York, it can be tricky to find real estate opportunities especially if you’re dealing with a limited budget. In such scenarios, you may consider other cities, or states outside of your “local real estate market”.
Generally, it’s more practical to invest in your local market when you find lucrative opportunities that align with your goals and investment strategy. But when this isn’t your reality, long-distance real estate investing can be the more suitable choice. It’s equally possible to invest in your local markets and long-distance real investing – as long as you use the right approach.
Now more than ever, technology, having the right network, and sound education have made long-distance investing more accessible than ever before. With proper planning, you can successfully manage investment properties even if they’re located hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
Benefits of Long-Distance Real Estate Investing for Women
There are numerous reasons why long-distance real estate investing is particularly attractive for women:
Financial freedom and wealth-building
As women, we already face a notable gender pay gap. This besides being naturally risk-averse, and having limited access to the right education significantly impacts the investments we make. Fortunately, real estate offers a path to building long-term wealth through appreciation, rental income, and potential tax benefits. With the right education and careful planning, it can help you build financial security as well as achieve your goals.
Freedom of travel
When you can invest all over the place, it gives you one more reason to travel. Consider the freedom to explore new places while setting up new income streams at the same time. So, your business trips double as exciting travel adventures. Also, with a reliable team, you can be an absentee landlord, visiting only a few weeks at a time to check up on your investments and enjoy the local culture.
Flexibility and control
Long-distance real estate investing allows you to invest in markets with better returns. So, it creates the opportunity to create a more passive income stream compared to traditional employment. This flexibility can be particularly valuable for women who juggle work and family commitments.
Invest in the places you enjoy
Do you love Miami? You can make your investments there and use that as an opportunity to visit whenever you like. Do you like commercial properties? There are many different ways to directly or indirectly own these kinds of properties. So, there are many different ways you can invest in real estate, and enjoy yourself at the same time.
Challenges of Long-Distance Real Estate Investing
While long-distance real estate investing offers exciting possibilities, it’s important to be aware of the challenges as well.
Finding the right property
The majority of your first series of hours before investing would be spent carrying out a thorough market research. Often, you may not have the time to visit the local area and ask questions. However, if you are diligent in carefully reviewing any properties and actively seeking education that can help you identify properties that meet your investment goals, you’ll be able to find them.
Managing properties remotely
Building a reliable team of property managers, contractors, cleaning persons, maintenance crew, and other professionals is crucial for successful long-distance real estate investing. However, finding the best people isn’t just as easy and sometimes even reviews online might not tell the whole story. Still, once you are prepared for mistakes and learning from them, you’ll find things getting easier after some time.
Stress and anxiety
The growing phase would be rife with stress. You’ll take some time getting used to not being able to solve certain things while being there physically. Also, you might not get everything right with your team from the onset. Over time, you’ll learn what works for you and your property management. And in the end, you’ll become efficient problem solvers.
Understanding local regulations
Taxes, landlord-tenant laws, and other regulations can vary significantly by location. You’ll need to thoroughly understand the legal landscape of your chosen investment market. Get familiar with tenant rights, eviction processes, security deposit regulations and other legal requirements of property management. Also familiarize yourself with property taxes, income taxes, depreciation and other tax-related matters. You may want to consult with experienced real estate attorneys, tax professionals and property managers who are familiar with the regulations of your target real estate market.
Getting Started with Long-Distance Real Estate Investing
Here’s a roadmap to get you started on your long-distance real estate investing journey:
Define your investment goals
Are you looking for steady rental income, capital appreciation, or a combination of both? Do you want to purchase and make returns on tax deeds or lien certificates? Your goals will influence your property selection strategy. You need to set SMART goals that will guide your investment approach and help you keep track of your progress. These goals will also guide how you analyze promising markets, local real estate market trends, and more.
Educate yourself
Learn the fundamentals of real estate investing, including financial analysis, property evaluation, and market research. Numerous online resources, books, and courses can equip you with the knowledge you need. Check out our free mini-class with Shymane that helps you build the right foundation in real estate investing. This class is a great starting point to get clear about your investment goals and learn the different ways to determine the type of real estate to focus your efforts on.
Research target markets
Before embarking on long distance real estate investing, make sure you’ve researched your target market. This is because not every market far from home would be worth investing in. Identify areas with strong rental markets, job growth, and a stable economy. Consider factors like vacancy rates, average rental income, and potential long-term appreciation. How does the local crime rates, occupancy rates, and workforce affect your investments? Are their good schools there? Is it a great neighborhood? All these factors will influence your real estate investment.
Use Online Resources
Depending on the type of real estate you want to invest in, there are many available resources online for such purposes. For instance, you can find rental properties sold by mom-and-pop sellers via Redfin and Craigslist. In contrast, Zillow and Realtor.com lists homes sold by private parties and local real estate agents. In the same light, you can also find tax lien certificates and tax deed properties via county websites, or online marketplaces like Bid4Assets and Gov.Ease. Check out this article for a full guide on where to buy tax lien certificates online.
Research properties
Besides researching the target markets, you should also assess the properties you are interested in. Fortunately, many of the online platforms you use will provide high quality property photos, floor plans and 3-D tours to help you confirm the condition of the property. In some cases, you can always take a trip to check out the properties in person.
Build your team
Assemble a team of qualified professionals. Depending on your real estate investments, you might need a real estate agent experienced in your target market, a property manager, and potentially a lawyer and accountant familiar with real estate investment. Always assess each member of your team based on their experience, reviews from former customers, and how they align with your budget. Often, real estate agents, vendors, lenders and property managers have online profiles on platforms like Yelp and Roofstock partner community where you can see reviews from their former customers.
Plan
Planning always makes everything less complicated especially when looking at long-distance real estate investing. You need to spend as much time as possible understanding your future financial situation and creating a plan about how to deal with your property investments. These plans will provide room for adjustments when laws change. It will guide where you buy, who you hire, and other little details that each location comes with.
Create a financial budget and secure financing.
An important part of your investment plan is your financial budget. You need to set clear financial goals to determine your projected return on investment (ROI) and cash flow targets. Also, explore the financing options you might need and those available to you. You need to focus on cash flow so that you can invest in properties that can provide guaranteed returns and allow you to project when those returns come in. Don’t forget to make financial projections for when you pay for mortgage, maintenance, and other costs.
Be proactive
You may not be able to get everything right from the onset. But as you go on, it’s important to be proactive. For instance, consider setting up bi-yearly reminders in your calendar to get the right crews in place or to repair or maintain your properties. This helps keep track of what’s happening at all times while creating room for how you can react when things go wrong. That said, if you’re getting a property manager to manage some of your operations, it would free up your schedule to focus on what matters to you.
Start Small and Scale Up
Avoid going all in when looking at long-distance real estate investments. Instead, consider starting with a single property to gain experience before expanding your portfolio.
Expert Advice and Best Practices
Here are some insights from industry experts to help you succeed in long-distance real estate investing:
Focus on data-driven decisions
Your real estate investment goals and strategy should always influence the properties and markets you invest in. But above everything, pick the markets you want based on objective reasons based on real data like a strong economy and job market. Avoid making assumptions about any market or investing in an area for subjective reasons like it being a place with tons of local amenities or because a family member lives in the area.
Avoid relying on family members.
need to make sure that every member of your property team is competent enough. Simply avoiding paying the extra operating expenses for a more competent individual or team can make it hard to have complete control over your long-distance real estate investment.
Seize the advantage of technology.
Technology is making everything incredibly easy and accessible. From virtual real estate courses you can enjoy from your comfort zone to analytical data websites for researching markets, and online platforms for viewing listings about properties. Use all of these tools at your disposal to make your long-distance real estate investing a success.
See the property in person.
Depending on what works for you, you can also consider visiting the property. The reality is that most long-distance investors do not visit in person. But you can consider visiting especially early on in your investment journey. This gives you a better idea of the area that your investments are in, helping you make informed decisions.
Actively seek continuing education.
You can’t learn everything about real estate at once. Besides, the real estate markets are always evolving with new laws, regulations, and trends in migration. So you need to continuously seek new information to help streamline your long-distance real estate investing. Consider joining online communities (especially those dedicated to women) to remain proactive about your long-distance real estate investing.
Wrapping Up
Long-distance real estate investing is a remarkable way for women to invest in real estate with immense flexibility. As a woman, you have the potential to succeed by leveraging market insights, conducting your due diligence and actively staying informed and adaptable.
Remember, building a successful real estate investment portfolio takes time, effort, and continuous learning. Here at True Investor, we are committed to empowering women on their financial journeys. That’s why we offer a range of resources, including free guides, podcasts, and other resources to help you build a thriving investment in no time.
Are you ready to take the next step towards financial freedom? Sign up today for the free mini-class with Shymane to learn more about real estate investing strategies, secrets, and tips from an experienced real estate investor.
FAQs
1. What is long-distance real estate investing?
Long-distance real estate investing involves purchasing and managing properties that are not in your local area. Unlike traditional real estate investment where properties are typically close by, long-distance investing allows you to tap into markets with potentially higher returns, lower costs, or specific property types that aren’t available locally. This strategy offers opportunities for investors to diversify their portfolios, generate rental income, and build wealth. However, it also requires careful planning, a strong understanding of the target market, and a reliable team of local professionals to manage the property effectively.
2. What are the benefits of long-distance real estate investing?
There are many benefits of long-distance real estate investing especially for women. First, it can provide a pathway to financial freedom. Imagine generating passive income through rental properties or tax lien investing. This can be particularly empowering for women seeking to build wealth and achieve financial independence. Long-distance investing offers flexibility as it allows women to manage their investments from anywhere with an internet connection. This can be advantageous for those juggling multiple responsibilities, such as career and family. It also allows you to diversify your real estate portfolio outside of your local market while reducing risks. Beyond that, with long-distance real estate investments, you can build an enduring legacy for your family and future generations. Overall, long-distance real estate investing can help you build your financial goals and secure your future.
3. How do I start with long-distance real estate investing?
First, you need to gain a solid foundation in real estate. This includes getting to know the different types of real estate properties. You also need to understand the principles guiding investments such as property valuation, market analysis, and financial management. True Investor’s free resources are a great place to get started. Once you have an idea of where you want to focus, you need to define your investment goals. For instance, do you want to make passive income, receive steady returns, or simply own a home? All these shape your real estate investment strategy. You’ll also have to identify the best real estate markets (cities, counties, and regions) that align with your goals. Pay special attention to factors like rental demand, crime rates, property values, economic stability, and local legal laws. Also, start determining how much you are willing to invest right away and explore your financial options. You’ll also need to consider factors like mortgage rates, down payments, and potential income. Once you’ve figured out your finances, start researching properties in the markets that align with your goals. Look at property conditions, rental history, existing liens on the property, and potential expenses. You may also have to start putting together your property management team since you won’t likely be there to manage the day-to-day operations.
