All Forum Posts by: Daniel Dow

Interesting. Sometimes I see that for double lots or multifamilies, which are pretty easy to parse out based on the situation. Would you mind sharing an example of an address or example of this? I'd be happy to take a look for you and give you my thoughts.  
I usually use Marion County (or what ever county) Assessor property card search rather than indy.gov tax property tax search. You might find an answer there as well. 

Take a look at the bigger pockets marketplace for properties for sale. Click on a few, and contact the person who listed the property on BP. I'd say over 50% of the posts are from wholesalers, ask them if they are a wholesaler. Tell them you are on the hunt and your criteria, and they will put you on their buyers list and contact you when they get properties under contract. You'll get loads of off market deals straight to your inbox. When you find one that meets your criteria, act fast. The next day is usually too late. 

Good luck.

Hi William,

As with everything, the devil is in the details. How close are we talking? What neighborhoods? what type of investment? 

Most residential neighborhoods are far enough away from the airport runways that the sound and fumes aren't a problem. Decatur township and Plainfield both have great areas for rentals and flips. 

For what its worth, I keep Washington street area just north of the airport off my radar, as the homes there by in large don't meet my criteria. 

Eric, I was going to post nearly the same question as you last night, but you beat me to it. I have a house under contract in Indy as well, and with the sub zero temperatures recently, I had the same concerns. 

My plan for this house was to move washer dryer hookups from a half bath (to put in bath/shower there) into the garage and box them in, but I wasn't sure if that was feasible given the un-insulated garage. 

So thanks for this thread. Very helpful!

Hi Craig, 

Marion county property cards are not the best source of data, but they do provide some valuable info. The information in them is determined from exterior drive by's and walk arounds by Marion County tax assessors, and previous known information (like building permits and inspections). 

On the summary of improvements, the grade is simply used to determine the replacement cost of the building. If an improvement has a grade of "C." then the replacement cost is 100% of the assessed value for insurance purposes in case of total loss. Grades of B, A, AA, and AAA all represent better than standard build quality, and a grade of D or E represents lower quality. Here is a link for more information on that: http://www.in.gov/dlgf/files/2011_Appendix_A_Final...

To find property taxes, I recommend looking at the tax history on zillow or realtor or trula. A quick and dirty (conservative-ish) calculation for Indy investment properties is to look at the assessed value and multiply by 2.5% per year. Evan in the post above had a more precise method. 

Hope this helps.

Awesome Bailey! Was this an MLS, wholesale, or did you find this one some other way?

Todd Whitehead at Rock Solid Home Inspect here in Indy has my recommendation. He's always thorough, honest, and fast.

Hi Wells, 

The hypothetical properties I listed were based on several real properties I had analyzed in the past few months. One particular that I remember that looked like property #1 was near Washington/Belmont, another was on Morris off Harding Street. These neighborhoods are relatively safe as far as I know especially when compared to other lower income neighborhoods. 

The "bad" properties were near Emerson/Washington, and others near Arsenal Tech. 

Thanks for the reply Ross. I agree with your assessment and all the points you made. I would personally rather err on the side of a better location, but I do see the appeal of getting in on a cash flowing duplex quickly with seller financing as opposed to finding private money or getting conventional financing. I'd be interested to hear what the folks that own rentals in those c class neighborhoods have to say.

I have the same questions. I'm interested in hearing what the community has to say. 

I've been looking at duplexes recently and came across two in my area that I might be interested in. They both have the same asking price, and both have roughly the same rents, and cash flow numbers look good for both. Here are the differences:

Duplex #1:

• Traditional financing at 20% down
• $5K of rehab total to be rent ready, $5K more over the first year or so
• Safe but stable lower income neighborhood.

Duplex #2

• Seller Financing available with 1% down
• $10K rehab on both sides tor both sides at least. 
• Rather bad (but not worst) neighborhood. 

Which do you see as the better deal, and why? Both? Neither? Thanks for your input in advance.