Recent Investor Southern Indiana

[John O Stith]

Hey BP,

My name is John. I graduated from Purdue, Boiler Up!, 2 years ago and work in Southern Indiana just a little South of Bloomington. I am 25 years old and recently started working for a larger corporation which came with a raise. My mother has always had rental properties while I was growing up so have a little experience there from that. When I graduated she sold me a smaller house that I now rent. I also own another house that I am currently living in. Really looking to hit the market harder but having a hard time learning more of the ins and outs and finding a proper deal. While I am better about saving my money than friends it has not grown quick enough to allow me to put 20% down on a house every year like I'd prefer. There are a lot of resources on here so hoping to learn and network with other individuals. Would like to find a mentor that would be willing to help me out a little bit with the ropes. While my mom is a good resource I think there might be better resources when it comes to finding a good deal, which is my main concern.

1 Year Goals

My goal for the next year is to find another deal. It has been a year since I bought a house and I think that I can take on a new property. I'd prefer a multifamily home but not one to live in so the 20% is hard to come up with. Looking at a partnership deal with my mom on a 4 unit. I'd also like to do networking to meet like minded individuals. Another goal is find a mentor with 20 units or more that is willing to help show me the ropes. Obviously I am not looking here but locally for events to meet such an individual.

3 Year Goals

For the next 3 years I'd like to be in the range of owning 7 units. I'd really like to use the money from those units to pay for at least one of those properties and have it free and clear, preferably more.

10 Year Goals

At the 10 year mark, 12 years after graduating college, I'd like to own between 20-30 units. 

My primary areas of interest are investing in Bedford Indiana, primarily because of cost of initial investment, and Bloomington Indiana.

[John O Stith]

Originally posted by @Joe Fairless:

@John O Stithwelcome to BP! Just curious, why aren't you looking to live in the next property and hop from one place to another after the 1 year mark? That would solve the 20% dp challenge you're having because you put much less down. 

I'll be honest, that was my plan all along. But I have a dog that is rough around the edges, due to abuse before I rescued her. I put a nice privacy fence up at my current house so that I could not have to worry about it. Dumb reason, but that's it. Its a small but nice little house that I think wouldn't rent as well as I originally thought. Still needs a bit of wiring redone, only one room left. 

Was wondering how hard it'd be to just leave one unit empty and say it's my primary residence. Stay there occasionally and rehab it for a year. But the legality of that worries me a little. The apartments are not bad but could use some updating.