All Forum Posts by: Lindsay Wilcox

Awesome! Thanks, everyone, for the replies! I have a friend who's just starting out as a real estate attorney, and I think there's a pretty strong chance she'd be willing to cut me a discount if I'm willing to take some losses as we both learn the ropes. Could be the start of quite a partnership!

I've also read that we apparently have a new law on the books that intends to give "counties additional tools to transfer properties that languish in tax sales to a nonprofit organization, neighbor or other party who agrees to repair and maintain the property." I would LOVE to have a nonprofit organization that renovated these homes to be handicapped accessible and sold them at reasonable prices. I'm still reading about it, but some of the information can be found here:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130703/OPINION10/307030086/Attacking-Indy-s-abandoned-houses-problem-an-often-frustrating-process

http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2013/SE/SE0433.1.html (specifically check out the part entitled SECTION 6. IC 6-1.1-24-4.5, AS AMENDED BY HEA 1568-2013, SECTION 5, IS AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2013].)

I'm no attorney, but it sounds like the door may have just been opened to exactly what I want to do?

I'm guessing this has been covered somewhere, but alas, there does not appear to be a search function on the mobile app, so I can't find it!

What's the deal with buying tax liens? Great idea? Awful idea? Depends on the effort you put into it?

My long-term goal is to buy properties that need to be gutted anyway in walkable/bikeable/wheelchairable areas and rehab them to be handicapped accessible, then work out lease option agreements with people and families who might have trouble being an active part of other communities. It seems like keeping an eye out on the auction list and checking for distressed properties and trying to reach the owners might be a decent way to end up with some houses that need renovation anyway. Indiana (where I live) is also apparently trying to pass laws that would give nonprofits access to properties that didn't even get bidders at auction, so I might be able to go that route too.

Just curious if anyone has experience with tax lien sales. Let me know!

Wow Melissa--that is so not what I had in mind! But what a story! Now I'm curious if anyone can top you story for sheer shock value!

It seems like a steal to me. Purchase agreement for $49,900. Units rent for about $1,500 altogether--or they would if I weren't going to be living in one! PITI is ~$450. Even if I do save 50% of the rent at $500, I have positive cash flow ($50) and live for free! I'm new enough that I'm not quite sure what a CAP rate is, but this seems like a great deal.

The area where the house is (Fountain Square, Indianapolis) is hard to comp too. You can find 3/2's for $50k or $250k. It's a hip, artsy area undergoing major revitalization.

Young people in their twenties can be remarkably stupid about things they post publicly without filters on social media. Check Facebook/Twitter/Instagram!

Did anybody ever start out thinking, "I just want to have a little more income from this. I don't want to take it full-time, I just want a little extra cash flow or a slightly more diversified retirement strategy"?

Given that this is a forum for investors, I understand the numbers willbe rather skewed, but I'm curious whether people stay small-timers or find REI so addicting they just can't stop!

Anybody ever have a deal where, een now you look back on it and think, "Wow. I still can't believe I got that deal. That was killer!"

If so, did you realize it at the time? What made the deal so great?

Guess sometimes you create a poat nobody has an opinion on, eh? I'll let it die after this one more try!

Will, thanks for sharing. I can't imagine how angry that would make me to have worked for 12 years and not have anything in retirement to show for it! That's actually why I like my 401(k), though. It's mine if I ever leave the job! Would be curious why you don't believe in them, but that may be a different discussion.

It kind of seems like there's a standard progression through different phases or atages of REI.

Newbies are more likely to live in one unit of a MF home and rent out the other two while looking for wholesale deals.

The second-stagers buy and flip or rent mostly SF or small MF homes, but they probably live in a home they bought fairly inexpensively and made a moderate number of repairs to and aren't wholesaling much.

Then people looking for big money buy a couple large multi-unit apartment buildings because they can afford them and have built the management chops.

And finally people back down and start funding other investors who need capital to get started and aren't as invested in actual property anymore--or if they are, they just have a great manager and never actively touch the deals. They just manage a team.

Does that seem accurate to people who have been around awhile? I'm just getting started, but it seems like a trend I've noticed. Some people atay in any one of those phases, but in general, it seems like people progress.