All Forum Posts by: Damien Pulvino

 I would recommend picking up a copy of "Lend to Live" from the BP bookstore if you have not already.

Good afternoon BP community. Posting this in search of tips and advice in terms of Private Lending. I'm not looking for private lending but seeking counsel on how to protect against risk when providing PL. I am aware that one should always use a promissory note which is vetted by lawyers and signed by the borrower and lender and provide the mortgage of the property to be acquired. I am also aware that it is best to be in a first lien position against the property that one is lending for.

I'm sure there are a myriad of other legal documents that other Private Lenders ask for to provide funds to borrowers. Looking forward to hearing from those who have considerable experience providing private lending.

@Matt Speer; good point, I'll be hitting you up soon.

@Kim Meredith Hampton; this is solid counsel, I did not know this entity even existed. Thank you for the scoop on this association.

I'm looking for recommendations for reputable Property Management companies in the Indianapolis area. Property management would be for SFR in Indianapolis.

Referrals with first-hand accounts of great experiences with PMs would be awesome!

Looking forward to hear all the community has to offer on this topic!

@Nick Giulioni just shot you a DM.

I’m not an investor friendly agent, but I am an investor looking for an agent that is friendly in Indianapolis too! 
Following this post, interested to see who pops up here. Thanks for posting!

I'm curious what guidance the investors in this community follow in terms of utilizing leverage. For most of us we need to use other people's money to build our real estate portfolio as we don't have money bags sitting in every corner of our house, waiting to be used.

I understand there is no one size fits all answer here but would like to know what other investors adhere to and why. How much debt is too much? Also, what have other investors experienced in terms of at what general point do banks stop lending because one's debt to income ratio is too high?

Looking forward to the community feedback!

Hey Lakshman,

No sweat man, just passing on what I have learned thus far. I'm in the same boat as you, new and learning, there are a bunch of people on this site that have much more experience and knowledge than I.

In terms of what site do I use for looking for units? I think they are all the same, (Redfin, Zillow, Realtor) in term of listings with the only real difference being the user interface. 

In terms of what I look for in markets, it is nothing special or unique and I'm sure others have a more comprehensive list than I. Factors such as migration (in/out), median housing and rent price, tax rates, median income levels, rental vacancy rates, etc. This is easy stuff to find and a lot of it can be found on census.gov:

U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States

Go to that link and plug your desired market in, and you will see a lot of useful information. 

Also, all the calculators, guides, and BP Insights found on this site are also pretty valuable. Once you have the big stuff figured out then you will need some "boots on ground" if deciding to invest out of area.

Again, this is just my own newbie stuff here, hope it helps you at least a bit. Looking at the other comments above I can tell there are a lot of other people watching this string that have a lot more knowledge than I.

Hello Lakshman,

Curious, are you looking to invest only in the Tampa area or are you willing to invest out of state or remotely? If you are priced out of the market in the Tampa area then I would recommend you investigate out of state investing and finding an area where you get more for your dollar. 

I'm sure you've seen it as well, but "popular" markets to get into right now seem to be Columbus Ohio, Indianapolis Indiana, Memphis Tennessee, and a bunch of others. There are a bunch of resources out there that will assist you, like David Greene's book "Long Distance Real Estate Investing" which can be found on this site under the bookstore. Personally, I think the "trick" is to find a market that is worthwhile that not everyone has sunk their teeth into yet, which is what I am looking for myself, with minimal success so far.

Regardless of the route you take, I wish you the best of luck on your REI journey!

Damien