What it argues
Long-Distance Real Estate Investing challenges one of the most persistent pieces of conventional real estate wisdom: that you should only buy in your own backyard. David Greene argues that limiting yourself to your local market often means overpaying for properties in expensive cities, settling for poor cash flow, or simply never starting because the numbers don't work where you live. The alternative is to invest in markets where the fundamentals are better, even if that means managing properties from hundreds or thousands of miles away.
The core of Greene's argument is that the modern tools available to investors — virtual tours, video calls, market data platforms, electronic document signing — have made long-distance management far more feasible than it was twenty years ago. The critical constraint is no longer proximity. It's the quality of your team: a reliable property manager, an experienced local agent who understands investor priorities, and a contractor whose estimates can be trusted. Greene devotes substantial attention to how to find, vet, and maintain relationships with each of these people.
What it gets right
- 1.
Your local market may not be the best market for your investment goals. Geographic loyalty costs money when better fundamentals exist elsewhere.
- 2.
The quality of your local team — property manager, agent, contractor — determines almost everything about how a long-distance investment performs.
- 3.
Market selection should be driven by data: job growth, population trends, landlord-tenant law, and price-to-rent ratios. Familiarity is not a criterion.
What it covers
Who wrote it
David Greene is a real estate investor, author, and podcast host based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He began investing in real estate while working as a police officer and grew a portfolio spanning multiple states before leaving law enforcement to focus on investing and real estate sales full-time. He is a co-host of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast and the author of several books on real estate strategy, including BRRRR and Sold. Long-Distance Real Estate Investing, published in 2017, was his first book.
