All Forum Posts by: Jo Lynn Tan

Originally posted by @Maxwell Lee:

@Jo Lynn Tan Welcome to BP! Where are you based in Asia? I have a lot of family there and travel back frequently. I just started investing long distance in Indy, but I don't have much to add. If you ever want to know more about Jacksonville just let me know. I find Indy on the whole to be a bit cheaper and better ROI on paper. But we're just dabbling there, Jax is the market we really know.

 Hi Maxwell, Thanks for your response! I'm curious to learn about Jacksonville even though it may not be something I'll make a move immediately. I'm based in Malaysia and Singapore for now. Let me send you a PM.  

@Jeff Wallenius, thanks for the tip. Before I looked into US market, I had a friend back in Europe that invested in $30k properties many years ago. It didn't turn out well for him. in Florida or some place I've never heard about being a solid market. His experience stuck with me since then... no matter how successful some people managed to make it work for them... Anyway, Portland is a place I've always wanted to visit. I'll keep you in mind if I do pass by!

@Mark Nolan, I stopped listening to podcasts for a while now. I'm living the fast-food life now...quick consumption only. So, I definitely dig the blogs because I can consume them quicker. Appreciate your advice!

@Josh C.: thanks for offering your help. I may take you up on that offer as I could use boots on the ground or just second opinion at some point. Let me send you a PM to follow up and understand better what you do and how I can help you in return.

Big thank to all of your warm responses. This is why I love BP!

@Jason Hawk, I'll definitely keep you in mind! Since I have friends in Kansas City, it's a place that's been on my mind and I want to look into after I get first few deals going. Kansas City is not in my agenda during this trip but might be on the next one. Let me add you so that I'll keep you in mind.  Thanks!

Originally posted by @Lynne Jacob:

Hi, Jo Lynn

I happen to know of a lender to Foreign Nationals.  Don't have the time at the moment to hunt down his name, but would be happy to if you'd like me to so just send me a PM.

Wishing you great success in your investing and your consulting business.

 Hi @Lynne Jacob, I would appreciate it. I have some people reaching out to me. I would like to see how I can make the numbers work. Let me send you a PM! Thanks so much.

Originally posted by @Vladimir K.:

Originally posted by @Josh C.:

Indy is a great market if you buy in decent areas and have a good team in place. Let me know if I can help. It's a pretty popular market for foreigners who do there research based on our economics and landlord friendly laws. Getting any debt will be your challenge.

Good luck!

 Hi Josh, what is a good way to gauge decent area for investing in Indy?  (I.e. crime reports, school rankings, etc..?)

 Hey @Vladimir K., you posed your questions to Josh. But I thought I could share my experience after assessing tonnes of input I read from the forum threads.

For me, I used crime stats, top employers/companies locations, local news sites about development in neighbourhoods, school rankings and most importantly, I read almost every threads with keywords "indianapolis neighbourhoods". 

But these data and stats only told me so much. Google map only showed you how a house/ street look like. Since all the crime and school stats were telling me I should stay away from where I want to get to, I've compiled what local investors' commented about specific streets in Indy neighbourhood into my own report. So, I could find exceptions within certain neighbourhoods I like. At the end of the day, the investability of every deal differs street by street. This is what I've been hearing and I agree after my own due diligence. 

Your criteria and budget on the type of houses you look for will make a huge difference as well. That's where you can spot areas based on rentability.

I've got a few sites in my favourites but these are some sources I've been referring to:

Affordability Map (someone shared this in the forum)	https://www.trulia.com/local/irvington-indianapolis-in/type:home_prices_listings_affordability
City Data	http://www.city-data.com/city/Indianapolis-Indiana.html
IndyMap	http://maps.indy.gov/MapIndy/index.html

Hope this is helpful.

Hi all,

I have to confess my sin. I'm not really that new here but I have been shadow-reading all the posts without introducing myself.  So, here I am!

In 6 week's time, I'm visiting Indianapolis to meet local turnkey providers, investors, wholesalers, and brokers and lenders that I've been in contact with for the last few months. Right now, I'm putting together a 3 day agenda in Indianapolis. If you know of any foreign-investor-friendly wholesaler, realtors, or private lenders I must say hello to, please let me know ;)

I'm Dutch part-time investor with rental properties in Netherlands. Now, I'm living in Asia with only my passive rental income while starting up my business consultancy firm as a travelling nomad.

Having rehabbed (part contractor, part DIY), done house-hacking, and rented out the investment properties in Netherlands, I really had to take a break because the rehab project totally wore me and my partner out. We both also realized how much we loved renovating properties but we also knew how much we'll never want to renovate homes as our full-time career. After more than enough tropical sun, it's time to get back on the horse again.

In the coming 3 years, I target to close 2-3 deals every year with a mix of turn-key and BRRR with my own team. So, hopefully in 3 years I'll own 8-10 cashflowing properties in US through a mix of cash and leveraged buys. I'm not in a rush...

Since I focus 100% on growing my consultancy firm, I'm only doing real estate investing part-time. However, I have interested local investors that keep asking to invest with me potentially as partners or lenders. So, I'm now learning as I go so that eventually I can market deals or work BRRR with local partners to get wholesale deals and rehab properties for rentals.

Long story short, my personal investment comes first. The latter will come after I get a better impression of the market and people I meet during my upcoming trip.

I look forward to meet and get to know more of you here. 

I've been learning a lot from BP forums and I'm grateful with the generous posters here. I also refer a lot of people from my social circle in Asia to BP as well. They all have been in awe how much valuable information you can get for free without paying for seminars. They didn't believe that I learned what I knew from only BP...because a lot of them have paid hundreds or thousands of US dollars to attend a real estate seminar course and learn something what's covered in BP blog posts for free.

Look forward to learn more from all of you. 

P.S. I'm always ready to diversify myself by observing what's happening in other markets eg: Birmingham, Kansas City, and Jacksonville. But I focus on Indy for now.

Peace out.

Jo

Hi there,

After speaking to many super helpful BPers in this forum, I'm making a trip down to Indianapolis in 6 weeks to meet some of them and potentially close some deals. 

As a foreign investor, I definitely want to do as much due diligence as I can and learn along the way. 

In the mean time, do you have any recommendations for inspectors and appraisers with experience of working with foreign or out-of-state investors? So they should know how to work via emails, or Skype calls and document their work with detailed photographs etc. 

I'm looking for people with an eye for details that could quickly help me with my due diligence inspection and eventually post-rehab appraisals on the turn-key deals I'm looking to buy.

P.S.: If there's any local meetups happening around 5-9 March, feel free to count me in. Unfortunately, I'll only arrive after the CIREIA meeting. I would love to meet and network with local investors, wholesalers and portfolio lenders. 

Regards

Jo Lynn

Hi Morgan, how did your search turn out for you? I know it's an old post. But as a foreign investor, I've been looking for leverage options as well. But so far, I have gone through the financing options given by my local contacts and they don't really deal with foreign investors, with or without LLC. So, I end up being a cash buyer so far which can limit the speed of scaling. Curious to hear more. I'll PM you to check in.

Cheers. 

Wow, this is a joke.

I was looking for Asian overseas investors investing in Indy and this came up.

Well, I can see why the rave. There are waaaaayyyy too many seminar speakers in this region teaching people to build wealth through real estate. I've even seen a guy that taught people how to make money through interior design business after....having decorated only 1 home. Asians know the route to wealth lie in real estate.  People would jump at anyone providing "one-stop" solution. Even friends that heard about me looking into US market (without even buying any property yet), they already wanted to give me money to invest for them. This is unfortunately how crazy things are. 

I still believe in connecting with reliable boots on the grounds. It takes time to do so from abroad. Unfortunately, not everyone is willing to take the time to do that.

Hey @Spencer, thanks for this post. As a out-of-state or even international investor like myself, it's quite traumatic to do due diligence and still find out that .... it's insufficient in the end. That's the reason why some out-of-state investors may choose turnkey route..but still, everything needs to be vetted...Nothing is rosy.