All Forum Posts by: Ray J.

@Dentric Vance - Welcome!  I'm also an investor/Realtor in Gary and surrounding areas.  Good to connect.

It's normally just through the price difference, minus whatever their expenses were. 

To make extra money, some wholesalers offer other services that an end buyer or seller might use, but the contract assignment fee or double close price difference is the "wholesaling" part of their earnings. 

I use eTitle and Escrow. 

https://etitleandescrow.com/

We say 5 inches. It starts to look ugly after about 4 inches if not maintained. (opinion, of course) But we aren't too strict about it depending on the surrounding properties in the neighborhood. Basically, if it looks uglier than the surrounding properties AND it's longer than 5 inches, we'll say something. If it's 6 inches AND everyone else's is also 6 or 7, we won't say anything. In my area, code enforcement gets involved at (I think) 10 inches. Some areas are a lot more strict, so that has to be considered. 

@Kyle Galloway The threat has been working 95% of the time.  

At first, it wasn't in our lease, we just told them they were responsible for the yard.  -Didn't work, and we had no real argument to fall back on.

Then, we put in our lease that the tenant is responsible for yard maintenance, but with no measurables. -Didn't work, it just caused disagreements.

Finally, we put it in our lease that they were responsible and would be fined if grass is found to be taller than x inches.  -Only had to enforce the fee once. BUT the weeds close to the houses where a mower doesn't reach are still out of control!

Our new lease adds weeds and debris to this clause.  I'll see how that goes with our next tenants.

@Connor O'Brien Great job!  I know the seller and we were very interested in that building, too.  It just wasn't the right time for us.  I'm glad he found a buyer and I'm glad you were able to make it a good deal for yourself!  

@Dennis M. No, it's not, but I don't mind if people keep thinking that.  Less competition for us!!

@Jacob Galloway sorry for the delay, busy few days...  

I've been investing for about 4 years now and everything I own is in Gary, including Miller Beach.  I'm open to some of Gary's suburbs, but at this point, I'm focused on building a decent consistent cash flow.  I'm always looking everywhere in NWI, but from what I find, Gary always has the best cash flow deals from a price vs rent perspective.  Once I get the cash flow to the level I'm shooting for, I'll most likely venture out elsewhere to start building the net worth part of the equation a little faster with more valuable and (potentially) more appreciable properties.  Although, I do think most of Gary's good neighborhoods will be appreciating a decent amount in the near future.  However, speculation is not currently my game, but I'll accept some appreciation as a bonus!

Welcome @Jacob Galloway!  Congrats on your start into investing and best of luck on your journey!

@Frank Patalano NWI is Northwest Indiana.  Gary, IN and surrounding areas.

@Kristen Reyes Just like Frank said, keep studying.  Less than a month will most likely not make you an expert.  As soon as you think you know enough, you'll come across something totally new to you.  But at some point, you need to just try.  Your learning will accelerate when you have skin in the game.  But I feel your pain.  Rehab estimating and finding reliable contractors has been the toughest part for me, and still is.  I've been navigating it a couple of ways... 

1) Getting deals for SO CHEAP and in conditions that there's NO WAY I can lose. Example: buying a property for 10K that you KNOW will ARV/appraise for minimum 40K (based on surrounding comps), that OBVIOUSLY can be rental-grade-rehabbed for less than 20K (cosmetic, paint, kitchen, floors, etc) and that will easily rent to great tenants for $800 (again, based on surrounding comps). Those numbers can be scaled/changed depending on what parts of NWI you focus in. You can price materials online or by phone at big-box or local specialty stores if you don't have a special hook-up yet. Labor is the toughest part, but common sense

2) Asking people at REIA meetups. There are several here in NWI that I know about and I'm a member of one. PM me if you'd like some info about any of them.

I spoke with Scott on the phone when I was fresh in the game and looking for contractors for a Gary IN project. He seemed really knowledgeable and nice & helpful (as good scammers always seem). If all this is true, I'm glad I was just lazy enough that I waited until Saturday to call his two recommended contractors; as they had voicemails stating their offices were open only Monday through Friday. I made a few more calls and ended up finding a different "decent" contractor for the project. 

I wish you luck in your situation, and thanks for the heads up.