Investing in Indianapolis area from overseas (Australia)

[Brenda Harper]

Hello,

I am relatively new to the forums though I have been lurking (reading and listening) for a few months now.  BP is an amazing website and thank you to all who offer their wisdom and experience so that the rest of us can learn!

My husband and I lived in the Indy area prior to relocating to Australia in 2009 (we both have US citizenship) and decided that since we know the Indy area (mostly suburbs, not so great on the city itself) and we have a trusted contact that is doing PM for us, we would start here.  We are not averse to looking into investing in other cities with recommendations  from BP members and after doing our due diligence.

Our plan is to buy and hold and generate a target income of $10K/month in CF over the next 10 years for our retirement.

We purchased a TH in Fishers in July while we were in the US and I wish we would have found this site prior to that purchase( (buyers remorse).

I believe the following have been our mistake and would welcome any feedback:

1. We purchased a property for retail (149k)

2. We put down 70k 

3. We purchase at the mid/end of the season and it still has not rented

4. HOA fees are crazy at 220/month

My questions are

1. Would you sell the property and then take the proceeds and do a 1031 exchange and use that money to purchase 2 or more rental properties? (buying much wiser this time)  I there a timeframe fro doing a 1031 exchange?  and can i sell one property and and buy more than one with the proceeds (not really proceeds, as I know we will end up taking a fairly large loss on our cash, not including our expenses for the last 6 months) 

2. Would you get a HELOC to purchase another property?

3, Would you leave it and save up cash (in about 1 year) to use for a down payment for another rental?

I know that 1 and 2 are probably the preferred and would speed up our plan as it would allow us to acquire more property, sooner than number 3.

As you can see and we have learned through the forums and podcasts, that we have made just about every rookie mistake in REI.

Ah well nowhere to go but up, now.

I look forward to your comments and questions.

Cheers,

Brenda Harper