Anyone have rentals in Indianapolis? How has your experience been?

[Rohan J.]

I'm currently looking at a few cities out-of-state to buy a rental, and one of the cities that looks great and affordable is Indianapolis.

Problem is, since I don't live there (i'm from CA), I don't know which areas to avoid, which areas have good job growth, which areas have good schools/families. etc. This will be my first out-of-state rental, so I'm really hoping it goes well and doesn't cause too many headaches.

I'm currently looking at MFRs and SFHs, and I was wondering if anyone who has bought a rental could let me know:

A) How has your experience has been so far? Anything unexpected?

B) What numbers on the map below should I avoid? Do you have any set of zip codes that you focus on?

C) What kind of cap rates are you seeing? I don't see too many multis listed.. are there still good areas for MFRs?

D) If you know of any investor-friendly real estate agents that are thorough, communicative, and helpful with out-of-state folks, please feel free to send me a PM. Would love to hear from you 

Disclosure: If you are an agent/affiliate of the company you send, please let me know before hand. I'd primarily like to speak with investors who have rentals in Indianapolis- even better if you're out-of-state :)

[Jay Hinrichs]

@Rohan J. 

  anything outside of the belt way's will generally be pretty nice stuff.. just like any big mid western city inner city areas are block to neighborhood specific... some are to be avoided at all costs others could be regentrifying.  Also I have had pretty good luck up in Kokomo which is just 40 minutes N of Indy and I think personally a sleeper... new Chrysler transmission factory has created a lot of new jobs in the last 20 months.

All the normal caveats apply... find a great seller and and an even better PM.. PM will make or break your investment period.