Newbie OOS investor looking at Indianapolis

[Shawna Lewis]

Hi! My name is Shawna. This is my first post ever. Happy to be a part of this community. I reside in San Diego as an Accountant. Three or so months ago I began considering real estate as a great pathway to invest in my future and make passive income. Goal for 2021 is to purchase my first investment property and I am admittedly quite intimidated.

Per my own research I think I have narrowed my target markets to either Indianapolis, IN, or Jacksonville, FL; leaning towards IN for my first purchase. I've learned how to calculate a property, have a spreadsheet of my own ready to input data, have watched several podcasts, etc, and feel I am fairly set up as far as being an unexperienced newbie goes. As far as flipping houses/major renovations go though, I don't have the SLIGHTEST clue, so not really interested in flipping at this moment. For now, just to get my feet wet and to gain experience I am looking at possibly purchasing a ready property from a turnkey company. I would hope my eventual second property would be purchased on my own through comfort and experienced gained through my first property purchase. I am someone that's pretty risk adverse so I would be doing A LOT of my own due diligence to ensure I am not scammed/mislead, such as calling around and having my own hired inspector look over any property. I will also not be visiting Indianapolis in person. I still need to talk to a lender for financing (I have enough cash for 20% down on most properties I'd be considering). I have not really started turning the wheel at all yet, but am ready to dive in...

Does anyone have any advice for me? Any experience with turnkey companies? Any experience in Indianapolis (I hear the quality of the neighborhoods literally changes between streets; yikes)? Anything I should watch out for or be privy of? I also hear that MFRs in IN are harder to come by as they are located in more shady areas and aren't a good buy, vs SFRs?

Thanks!

[Twana Rasoul]

@Shawna Lewis welcome!

Based on your post I would discourage you from purchasing out of state unless you have someone there that you trust...that would be much more important than an inspector. There’s already lots of complexities with investing out of state and not wanting to go out there yourself makes it even more so. Also, trying to do all due diligence yourself rather than having people you can trust just leaves more room for failure.

There’s ways to start locally with buying your own residence here with low down payment or house hacking a multifamily.

However, if you really want to invest out of state the market is not as important as having someone that can guide you and someone that knows the area and you can trust....there are lots of individuals in San Diego that invest out of state, you can maybe consider teaming up with one of them on your first deal.

If you are risk averse then the route of turnkey investing in a random market without visiting and having someone you can trust might not be the best option.