How to Build Out-of-Town Real Estate Team

[dfrei]

I am curious to hear how out-of-town investors have built their real estate teams (agents, property managers, inspectors, rehab contractors, etc.). I live in Washington state where the high prices make local investing somewhat unattractive, so I am looking at areas where prices are lower but rents are still comparable (Indianapolis, Memphis, Atlanta, Columbus OH, etc.). For those who have gone this route, did you make in-person trips to the markets you invested in, or was it all done long-distance? How did you begin networking in an area where you had zero contacts to start with?

[MrFrugalChicago]

I have never done this, but would you want to maybe attend some kind of real estate investing club to make connections? 

100% remote is going to be hard. You will at least want to know a few basics like how the neighborhoods look like, and I would assume you would want to personally inspect stuff before you make an offer?

[Hamster]

If I could find places like what ARebelSpy describes below, and feel comfortable in having the team to purchase and manage them at a distance, I do just that.

We have done well locally with some 'slow flips' that we've renovated renovated and held for a few years while riding out the market, and we have a few local longer-term rentals, but we get nowhere near the rent to price ratio that ARebelSpy describes. That's why I am interested in learning how to do rental real estate remotely.

If you want it in real estate and you want to be a landlord you could always buy a property free and clear for 44k that rents for ~1k/mo, no mortgage.

Or put it as a 25% down payment on a house that rents for 2500ish.