All Forum Posts by: Kenny Dahill

Originally posted by @Steve Sun:

Hi there,

I've done quite some research to find a great city to buy and hold rental properties and my research has led to Indianapolis, IN.

For reasons:

1. IN is a very landlord friendly state.

2. Prices of many SFR are still very affordable. (<$150k or even <$100k)

Questions:

1. Anyone has any insight whether it's a great or undesirable city for rental properties? If not, which ones are on your list or where you hold rentals in?

2. Which zipcode of Indianapolis would be good for buying and holding rental properties?

Thanks!

Indianapolis is definitely a hot spot.  As with any out-of-state investment, had a clear plan on your involvement.  Do you want turnkey, renovate, etc?  Do you want to self-manage or hire a PM?  If you use a PM, make sure you understand their services vs. your expectations.

Barbara,

It's important in a situation like this to CYA and follow the right procedure.  Still send her late payment notices and document everything.  While as humans we want to give her benefit of the doubt, it sounds like there is a lot of tangible events that constantly went wrong.  Some states also require that after the eviction or move-out you keep their personal property for a set number of days.  It's best in this situation to stick to the legal script just in case it backfires.

There was a podcast episode that covered something very similar, can't remember the number or guest but it was a few years back.  Anyways, the tenant was in the hospital and couldn't pay rent.  It turned out to be a fabricated story I believe and his advice in that situation was treat it like any other eviction.  Which included sending the late payment notices on-time and eventually the eviction notice.

Hope this helps, and hoping for the best in this situation.

Originally posted by @Julie Olson:

Any suggestions for property management companies in Naperville IL? Looking to help my family rent their townhouse in that area.

Naperville, great area! As always, I suggest you call multiple firms and find out everything they have to offer as well as charge. Especially if you have a special type of property (Section 8, senior housing, etc.). Also, confirm who handles the HOA-related items, it's not uncommon for PM's to not provide this service and it falling back unexpectedly on the owners.

@Imthiaz Ahmed

@kwame knights

If you guys are still looking for property management firms for your Detriot/Michigan properties then please send me a message as I can help.

@Aaron Klatt I agree with Aaron's 2nd point. Often the biggest complaint is quality of tenant that they place. Often these management firms have interested applicants from other properties recently listed. Be careful about rushing tenant placement, you're better off with a brief vacancy and a good quality tenant than rushed with a poor quality.

@Darlington Agu Sorry to hear! When you originally searched, how many PM firms did you contact and request bids from?

@Kory Dieter Interesting that they require localized property management. Have you done research regarding the minimum service of management you could use?

I'll be attending several real estate investment meetings over the next two weeks in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. I'm interested in meeting with other SFR long-term rental investors. Talk shop over coffee or lunch. If you're available this week or next, please send me a private message and we will coordinate. Looking forward to meeting!

@Andrew Taylor Multi-level has its advantages but also disadvantages. You've already hit on some of the advantages. Disadvantaged to be aware of include fire and life safety, increase in structural support, difficulty in construction logistically. Your best bet is meet with a local GC. Similar to real estate, construction is very regional. I would argue it is more regional-specific than real estate. It's easy to research values in different markets. It's difficult to research cost of concrete, earthwork, accessibility and quantities of workforce that are so detrimental to their region. Only somebody with boots on the ground can provide that info, not Google or other access. If you wanted a cheat to just see ballpark cost, look at regional new developments that sold with similar attributes you desire. Find the $/SF and assume the developer made 20% on top. Figure out their land basis, subtract it and that'll give you a figure for soft costs, hard costs and development fees. That'll give you a good building basis.

@Walker Gibbin I'm not aware of the "living on site" law you mentioned. However, in Arizona a non-licensed individual can manage one property. Most often this is for a property containing multiple units.