All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Zindel

My contacts both work out of branches in Decatur so they may not be the best for your situation but if you are interested send me a DM. You will want to talk to someone on the commercial lending side for this type of loan product.

@Chase Gruening, try Town & Country Bank and Prairie State Bank & Trust. Both are small local banks that have branches in Springfield that do portfolio loans. I have done lots of loans with PSB&T and also a handful with T&C with their branches over in Decatur. Their rates are very competitive as far as portfolio loans go, 5.0-5.5% on 20 year am with 5 year balloon. T&C recently started offering a 10 year balloon for a slightly higher rate (my last one was 5.80%).

Hey Scott.  I am from the Decatur area and have been investing here for the past 7 years.  In general, it is a very blue collar, industrial town, which makes it a great rental market.  However Illinois' tax and business climate is also a factor you should consider also but that another discussion altogether.  There are some good opportunities in student housing around Millikin but also some reasons to be very cautious.  You really need to understand the student housing landscape of the university as a whole as well as the neighborhoods around the school.  Send me a message if you want some more details on that.  Best of luck.

Hi @Kayla Oliver, good to see another Decatur investor on BP. Are you buying property here in Decatur?

I'd definitely recommend BRRRR if you are tapped out on your own funds. It's my favorite strategy hands down and what I've been doing exclusively for the past 5 or so years.

Hi @Tim Mikesell.  Welcome to BP!  Good to see another Decatur investor on the site.  

Decatur does tend to get a bad wrap but I've been successfully investing in buy and hold properties in the market for the past 6 years.  I stick to the B class neighborhoods around the outer edges of the city and have had good luck finding quality tenants as long as you take the time to properly screen.  You just have to take the time to learn the neighborhoods and avoid the depressed ones, which is true for any market.  You also hit on another key element which is property management - you can PM me if you'd like more details on my opinions about that.

Best of luck as you get started and happy investing!

Hey @Gary Trepanier,

Welcome to BP! I invest in Decatur, mostly buy & hold using the BRRRR strategy. Would be glad to connect and answer any questions you have.

Have you considered the BRRRR strategy, especially with your construction background? Buy a distressed property, Rehab it, Rent it out, Refinance to pull most/all of your money back out, then Repeat.

You likely have to find a small local bank to work with on the refi and see what they can offer for rate and terms. I have done 20+ BRRRR's in Decatur over the last 3-4 years and have ended up with $0 of my own money in them after the refi. One thing to keep in mind is that these refi loans will usually have a balloon and might also have seasoning requirements.

It may not be a fit for you but could be something worth considering.  Also, the same bank that is telling you the only option they have for you is a 20% down mortgage might have a commercial lending department that has more latitude to fit loan products to your situation if you are deemed to be a good borrower.

My wife is due with our first baby on October 25th so I'm guessing I'm probably not going make it to this one...

@Zach C., you should go to this if you are free that night.  I'm sure @Scott Dixon would be glad to introduce you to the other guys there.  And you should pick Scott's brain about small multi-families as he has experience in that area and could give you some tips on how to handle your pending 4-plex purchase.

@Account Closed, I have used ListSource to pull lists here in Decatur a handful of times. It does costs per item but if you call them to set up your account and tell them you are a investor, you should get significantly better pricing than you will if you just create your account online (at least I did, but that was several years ago).

It does take a little bit to get good at refining your search criteria but you'll get the hang of it is you play around with it and could probably find some posts or forums about how to best use it. I learned about how refine my search criteria down to exactly what I was looking for thru several wholesaling podcasts several years ago.

Hey @Carl Corvin. Decatur is my local market and I have quite a few properties there. Although I stay away from the low income properties for the most part I know a lot of the guys in that space and could maybe give you some recommendations. Send me a PM and we can talk. 

I bet I can even guess who the property manager who let you down was...