All Forum Posts by: Collyn Bennett

@Ralph Patulot Congratulations on picking a city to focus on! I live in Indy and I'm currently wholesaling and saving for my first rental here. I'd be more than happy to answer some questions for you or be your boots on the ground if needed.

@Jean Zipagan there's a good chance the responsible party is still getting the mail. Something as simple as a letter might get the attention of the person who inherited the home either through them collecting the mail or from it being forwarded by the post office.

@Mona Mohamed the best place to start is Sterling White's post The Investor's Guide to Grading Neighborhoods in Indianapolis. I'd like it, but I can't seem to do that from my phone. Just do a search for that title in BiggerPockets and it should show up.

Indianapolis and the surrounding towns covers a large area, and there's a lot of opportunity. You probably need to get specific on the price range you're looking for and types of renter's (families, young professionals, college students, etc.) From there you can really start to narrow the neighborhoods that actually make sense.

@Stanislav Perevozchikov I'm an Indianapolis local.  There is definitely a lot of opportunity here!  I'm getting into wholesaling now to help fund future buy and hold investments in this area.  I know the area well and would love to share some insight.  I'm free to connect whenever just send me a message here on BP!

@Adam Zach I'm a mechanical engineer and rookie real estate investor. Real estate drew me for a few reasons besides the financial benefits.

I get the numbers. I understand how they work for a single deal and can actually create a plan for how I will grow my business over time using the numbers.

The other major draw was that I have hands on technical skills I can use to fix and renovate things. To me this means a lower bar to entry because I can do a lot of my own work to start and achieve greater returns.

@Cyle Harris one of the most difficult challenges but also one of the best ways to build a solid team all from just one deal. You'll be happy you found them for the next deal. Glad to hear you were able to push through!

@Brady Hoffpauir I would recommend looking at the BiggerPockets book Raising Private Capital. Using a SDIRA is discussed in this book along with some charts to give a visual representation of how much faster your money can double investing in real estate vs the 5%-8% in your 401k.

Dave Ramsey is extremely conservative and he hates debt. His theory on real estate is just that, extremely conservative and avoiding debt. When purchased at a good value real estate debt is "good debt" because it makes you more money than you have to pay each month.

Yes, investors who use leverage make it past ten years. How many people have been on the Biggerpockets podcast who talk about making it through the 08/09 crash. We're ten years past that now.

Ultimately you need to decide where your risk tolerance and desire for returns meet. Maybe that doesn't mean using as much leverage as possible, but it doesn't have to mean 100% cash either.

@Wade G. The only way to overcome your feeling to have to pay off mortgages is to look at the numbers. How much can your money grow if you carry a mortgage and use the money to invest elsewhere? How much will it grow if you pay off the mortgage? Having the ability to use your money elsewhere to earn more than the interst on the loan is really the only reason to carry a mortgage when you could pay it off.

It sounds like you need to sit down, look at your goals, and figure out a strategy that works for your goals and your level of risk tolerance. Maybe that means you don't carry any mortgages. You'll just have to accept the fact that you won't be able to grow as fast as you could have, but that's fine if it meets your goals.

@Joe Villeneuve seems logical to me. Do you base this off the simple fact that if you can't see it you can't know how much it's going to cost you?