NWI New Member

[Djurica Bukur]

Hi all,

My name is DJ and I'm a new member! It's nice to meet you all. I've been listening to the Podcast obsessively for the past month and I've learned a lot. 

I'm located in the Northwest Indiana area (close to Chicago) and I'm interested in single family and multifamily units for buy and hold investing. My end goal is to be completely financially independent through real estate by the time I'm 40 (currently 23). 

I haven't done any deals yet, but I'm looking to buy a single family home to fix up and rent within the next 6 months!

-DJ

[Dale Stevens]

@Matt White - you do not always have to deal with "Class D" tenants. Hammond is a CITY and quite large. There are many different areas. If you judge all cities by the lowest common denominator, then I guess Chicago's northside (near Wrigley where many Cubs and Blackhawks live) would also be terrible?

Just because some people have lower incomes and therefore can afford a lower rent, doesn't mean they are class D. Yes, there are trouble tenants, but I have found they come at all levels of income. So, in the end, it comes down to how you finish your property, how you screen your tenants, and then support them once they are in there.

I was taught a single item from my coach. If you picked up the property and moved it to where you wanted to live, would you live in the home yourself? Could you live in it? If you leave the crappy windows in, or put in new ones, but fail to seal or insulate around them, the bills skyrocket in the winters and it is cold. Would you still want to live there? So don't ask others to do that.

This line of thought has increase my up front expense for renovation and rehab, but it saves you in the long run when you don't have vacancy numbers. When I finally came on board with that line of thinking, I have seen an increase in the quality of tenant/applicant, and a massive reduction in evictions and turnover.

If a person feels comfortable and knowledgeable enough about an area, just exercise solid fundamental analysis on the area. There are people that have made solid money through the years investing in properties and areas I would never touch. Just because it doesn't work for me, doesn't mean they shouldn't keep doing it.

Good luck to everyone, just remember be smart, be educated and believe in yourself!