All Forum Posts by: Hilary Hageman

My husband and I are looking for an investing-minded realtor who knows the South Bend area and understands rent-to-value ratios.  Anyone out there?

Hey everyone in the South Bend, Indiana area: I'm a Michigander looking to familiarize myself with the current economic trends in South Bend. We're hoping to purchase our next rental property (likely a 3 bed SFR) in SB but we still have lots of learning to do regarding neighborhoods. Here's what we're looking for:

- Something close enough to appeal to ND graduate students and/or mid-wage ND workers.

- Close to downtown

- Upward mobility of neighborhood (likelihood for appreciation)

- Not currently overpriced (Twyckenham, Corby, etc.)

- Class C+ to B area currently

Any ideas?  Tips on neighborhoods to stay out of if we're looking to stick to this criteria?  What are your opinions on the East Bank/Howard Park area?

My question is how to achieve appreciation in my market.  I'm not willing to invest in a market I don't know (a blue state with appreciation) and which is hundreds of miles away.  I'm just not sure I can get reliable appreciation in an area with at best stagnant at worst steadily decreasing population and employment numbers.

@Chris K., thanks so much for the input. I tried to follow Brandon Turner's advice in his Book on Rental Property Investing regarding how much to set aside for CapEx. The house is small (800sq ft) and everything including roof, furnace, flooring, and kitchen newly updated so I'm putting aside $120/mo for CapEx.

I'll have to do more research about those other methods of property analysis.  Thanks!

@Scott Steffek: I don't want to dip into Class D properties (although there are LOTS in my area!) Mostly because I don't think we have the team or the experience to handle that type of tenant.  Our C/CR on the property is 73.4%.  We invested $6K and are getting $370/mo in cash flow.  Our property is a solid class C with grad students at Notre Dame for tenants.  Kind of a dream situation, so we know we haven't really been prepared for handling difficult tenant situations.  We'd like to look into multi-families but are nervous to do so given our lack of experience dealing with tough tenants.

Thanks so much for all of the advice.  So good to hear from people from different areas, markets, and strategies, all of whom have more experience than I do! 

@Rob Lane: Thanks so much for the hopeful news.  We're going to try to dip into the IN market (South Bend) a bit more, as it is just larger and shows more economic stability.  Same types of homes, though.  No appreciation but steady rents.

@Adrien C.: Good to hear from someone in a similar post-industrial fall-out Midwest market.  Thankfully, our appraisal actually came in at $6000 (8%) better than what we paid for it.

@Sarah Lorenz: Really good advice.  I will read those articles today.  I think you are right when it comes to long-term wealth building - that appreciation needs to be a part of the strategy.  It will definitely be a challenge to find those properties in our market, but I think I need to do some more digging before I totally right off that possibility.  In your opinion, how to multi-families compare in terms of appreciation to SFHs in a depressed market like mine?

@John Chapman: Absolutely I am a newbie of newbies.  Hence the question mark at the end of my post title.  Hoping to learn from wiser ones here.  :)

@Russell Brazil:  So true about the different markets found in this huge country!  I have a difficult time imagining life in a rapidly appreciating area with large population growth.  Our area has been steadily declining for decades along with the rest of the Midwest.  But I just keep reminding myself that every market has opportunity somewhere.  I just have to find it.

Thanks, @Andrew Johnson. We actually bought our first rental for cash ($46K from a HELOC on our primary residence,) but we're in the process of pulling as much of that money out of the rental as possible through a 30-yr fixed-rate mortgage in order to allow us to make a down-payment on a second property. Our cash flow will drop by about $100/mo when we do this.

When thinking about a hedge against "un-sellability" in the future we have decided to only purchase 3+ BR homes.  Although they don't appreciate much in this area, they do sell quickly, whereas 2BR sit and SIT.

Hey all,

My husband and I bought our first rental (a 2B/1B SFH) this year and are hunting for our next deal. Our current rental is located in a depressed area with low-no appreciation, very low home prices, but average rents (for the area.) We're currently getting $400 cash flow/month on this property (a 24% ROI.) We have great tenants and we're pretty happy about how things are going so far!

My question is, why should I care about appreciation and/or equity buildup in my market when the cash flow to be had is so great?  Other areas nearby with better appreciation barely break even in terms of monthly cash flow.  This has us pondering financing options in the future with the outlook of maximizing cash flow even if equity buildup suffers (always lowest-down financing.)  

Also, in our area (largely rural) no one seems to want to rent in multi-families (so we've been told by local investors.)  Everyone wants to feel like they own their home.  Has anyone else experienced this?

My markets are South Bend Indiana, Niles Michigan, and Berrien County Michigan.

Hey all, 

We just purchased our first rental (woohoo!). It's a small SFH with practically nothing to do to make it ready for rent. We're in the process of tenant screening right now (we've had like 40 bites!)

My question is, how do you guys keep track of yearly maintenance tasks done to your rental?  I read the BP book on Rental Properties and they suggested doing certain tasks yearly to keep the place ship-shape.

Is there a software available for this?  Does Quickbooks let you do it?  We bought Quicken for managing the financial side of things since we only have one property at this point.

Also, how do you keep track of which repairs have been done to a property and which ones need to be done?  I'm big on organization so I'm curious to see what y'all have come up with.  Thanks!!

@Account Closed thanks for your advice!  We did find out that both units are currently being rented.  They are taking really good care of the units and I'd like to keep them, but I'm fairly certain we need to raise their rent to make our numbers work.

Besides Michigan law requiring 30-day notice of raise of rent, we would absolutely be willing to let them coast at the current rate while we get the needed work done.  Good tip!