All Forum Posts by: Lionel Li

Hey @Nicholas Giordano I agree with @Mike D'Arrigo. I'm from Queens + work in White Plains and for a long time I couldn't decide where to invest. I've looked all over the country for a city that I could invest long term in and Kansas City & Indianapolis definitely came up on the top, especially if you're looking for more stable cash flow. I pulled the trigger last month and purchased my first SFR and I've been under budget in almost every aspect in expenses and estimates and with that my Cash flow & ROI are increasing. Contrary to your statement, I believe those two cities are exactly what you're looking for in terms of cash flow.

Hope you find the motivation to take the leap, I know I was as impatient as you were 5 months ago but, do your own research and a lot of it..then figure out what fits your investment goals.

@Jenelle H. Hey Jenelle, I was in a similar situation as you a few months ago. I'm also an accountant in the Food & Beverage industry living in New York and wanting to invest out of state because the NY market did not make sense. I've ended up investing OOS earlier in September in the Midwest market. Awesome that you've already taken a few steps to broaden your REI knowledge, please feel free to reach out if you want to pick my brain to see what I did and if it aligns with your goals. Wish you luck in your REI!

Hey Gustavo, 

I was always told by my team in Indianapolis that 2-4 units have a higher turnover rate. As a tenant, if you share your house with another person or family, you sort of lose the "ownership" feel of renting a SFH. You'll also have to hope that you'll get along with the other tenants or it'll be a very long year for everyone and other factors such as utility split with a meter or driveway/garage use or the lack of. I'll admit the numbers, in terms of Home Price:Rent is more attractive than a SFH and your vacancy rate won't be either 0% or 100%. I've considered multifamily residential but, ultimately decided that I'd like to mitigate the risk of vacancy and open a bigger pool of potential buyers if I decide to sell in the future and invested in a SFH. There is no right or wrong, this was only my thought of MFH vs SFH and I'm sure many of the things I've said was just a personal preference and a certain bias I have but, you need to lay out all of the possibilities and make that choice that best fits yourself as an OOS investor.

Happy hunting hope you find yourself an awesome property in Indy! 

Very curious about these flooded properties too. Most post-hurricane states see a dip in their in-migration numbers for the first few years after the incident but, after years of calm weather people create a 'window of amnesia' and forget that it's still hurricane territory and it might recover from the huge drop-off after a period. Now my question is, does that help the buy-and-hold investors? The homeowners of Florida and 'soon to be homeowners'/retirees will probably remember Irma for a long time and might not want to be along the coast which might make it more of a renters market. Home values and appreciation may not be as strong but, there's a lot of opportunity to bring it up to MV and could drive the rental market because less homeowners might want to own around that area. Not sure if what I said was completely off or not but, I know if there's no risk, there's no reward and it'd probably be now or never to invest in these (unless God forbid we have another 500 year flood). I'm definitely going to follow this thread in case someone can chime in on their experience.

There's plenty of opportunities in Indy but it all depends what you want to do with your investment. You can go for appreciation, cash flow or a little of both. Also, how do you want to utilize your funds, all-in cost of $50,000 with rehab or a turn key property, completely leveraging your $50,000 to borrow $150,000? It all depends what your criteria is for your investment. Areas in Indy aren't really judged by neighborhoods or zip codes, aside from a few good ones which will definitely cost a bit more. If you don't want to deal with much of the legwork then maybe look into a turnkey provider there are plenty that I've seen in Indy.

Good luck in your investment!

Hey Federico,

Not exactly what I tried to point out. I agree, how could anyone have foreseen a divorce but, a divorce also doesn't justify not paying rent even with the financial burden unless the rent was only able to be paid with the combined income.. There are obligations that good tenants wouldn't want to risk tainting their record with. But that's besides the point..not trying to say managing your own properties doesn't work, I can respect that. I'm just pointing out the subject of this topic using my own way to remove myself from the "fun" parts of investing.

(Did read your comment to someone else that this is the first time in a while that this happened. If it's a rare occurrence then your reserves that you kept would've covered that five times over.) 

Again, wish your next tenants to be less of a hassle.

Originally posted by @Federico Gutierrez:

Sorry about your recent experience..these are definitely amongst the things I worry about with rental properties but, how did you screen the tenants that rented your property? I always told myself, I invested to be a rental property investor not a property manager. I'd remove myself from this equation and build in 10% + half a month's rent for a reputable management team with a good pool of vetted potential tenants. I understand problems can still come up but, trying to manage everything just makes this more of a job and less of an investment. I hope your next tenant will be keepers!

Hey Glenn, I've invested in the west side of Indy and will probably continue in this area because I have found networks that are more experienced in this part of the market. I know Clayton's company focuses on the east a lot like around the Speedway neighborhood, they definitely don't venture as far west as I was looking. I definitely did not invest in the 20k-30k range but around the 40k-60k range but it should be on the higher end of the spectrum or even exceeding by a bit in ARV. With that said, I wouldnt opt out the lower priced properties as soon as I'm more comfortable with my first investment property. After almost 6 months of really studying Indy I really have a much better understanding of how the neighborhoods work in terms of rent/comps/crime/school district (I understand that's very hard to believe considering I've yet to visit Indy). There are pockets of good and bad areas but without a local hand it'd be extremely difficult to sift through neighborhoods and understand what kind of deals you're looking at. I know I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know but, I've done all I can as an OOS investor to mitigate as much risk and now I leave the rest to the research that I've done over the past 6 months to unfold itself. I believe Indy is a very strong market or I would've kept my money in NYC.