My introduction to BP and REI

[Brent Roberts]

Hello all, I’d like to introduce myself to the BiggerPockets community. About a week ago, a couple of friends reached out to me and pitched an idea. They wanted to team up, invest a large amount money and start the ascent to building our real estate empire! The problem is, none of us have any experience in this field. Even though I own one property in Las Vegas, which I overpaid for back in 2009, I gained no experience.

I have a few general questions about a new venture I am looking into. Myself and two partners are considering purchasing some SFH and using them for short term rentals. Eventually we would like to expand and acquire more homes, preferably in the same city as the first purchase. We're looking at the higher end market, consisting of 3-4br, in proximity to downtown in up and coming neighborhoods. Since this would be our first real estate investment we wanted to concentrate on more recently built or renovated homes. It's also likely the home will not be located nearby (we all live in different cities) and will be using a property manager.

Based on the data we acquired, we narrowed it down to three cities. Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. We are most likely going to choose Indy. According to our data, the best neighborhoods for 3-4br STR in Indy were 46203 and 46205. We would greatly appreciate any advice as to pockets within these zips that would be good to avoid or target. I know these neighborhoods can be spotty.

Regarding the structure of our endeavor, is forming an llc is the best option? We’ll each have different equities and want to have future buy out options available. Sorry for the long intro and infinite questions. Thanks.