027: Investing Out of State in Turn Key Properties With Marco Santarelli

On this episode of the InvestFourMore Real Estate Podcast I talk to Marco Santarelli who owns Norada Real Estate Investment. Marco has invested in rental properties for many years and started when he was 18! Marco has invested in many states across the United States and explains what he looks for in markets, how he got started investing and why he started a company to help other investors invest in rental properties from a long distance.

How did Marco get started investing in rental properties?

Marco started investing when he was 18 years old by buying a condo, rehabbing it and renting it out. He also became a real estate agent and tried to make a career of real estate. Marco found that being a real estate agent was not his cup of tea and he left the real estate business completely. After a couple of years, Marco realized he loved real estate and had to get back into it. He started investing in real estate again, but this time he focused on investing and not being an agent. Marco bought many properties after attending a real estate training seminar with mixed results. He made money on some, lost money on some, but learned a lot!

What does Marco think of real estate training seminars?

There are many real estate training seminars available for potential real estate investors. Marco took part in one of the more expensive programs and while it helped him get started he had mixed feelings about the system. The system was over $20,000 and while he was able to profit from the program and it got him investing, he saw many people join up who had no success at all. He was also not fond of their sales tactics and thought they over sold what they actually taught. In the end Marco helped many of investors in the program buy houses that cash flowed, because the program was not working for them.

Marco offers some great advice. Before you spend $25,000 or $30,000 on real estate training, buy a house instead! If you are interested in real estate training programs I highly suggest staying away from the expensive programs that are more about signing people up, than delivering results. If you really want help and training, I offer programs that are taught by an experienced investor (me) that are much more affordable.

What lessons did Marco learn about investing out-of-state?

Marco invested in many different cities including Detroit. Detroit was thought to be a great market to invest in before the housing crisis with urban renewal all over the city and a strong economy. Houses were very cheap as well and it appeared as if you could not lose when investing in real estate there. Marco learned you could lose, when the housing bubble burst and Detroit was one of the hardest hit cities in the country. Houses that were worth $20,000 and renting for $600 a month, could no longer be rented for anything and were basically worthless.

Now Marco looks at the economy and housing markets much closer before investing. He stays away from markets whose economies are based on one major industry. As an example he talks about South Dakota where housing prices skyrocketed the few years, because of the oil boom. Now prices are plummeting because oil prices have dropped and there really is not other reason to live in South Dakota (just kidding).

How does Marco help investors buy out-of-state?

Marco runs Norada real estate investments, which sells turn-key rental properties all over the country. Marco still invests in the same areas of the country he helps other investors buy in. Marco has built strong relationships with lenders, contractors and property managers to provide true turn-key properties. A turn-key rental by Marco’s definition is already repaired, rented, managed and provides cash flow the moment you buy it.

You can reach Marco on his website Noradarealestate.com