All Forum Posts by: Shannon S.

I was born and raised in Kokomo,IN and still have one rental in Kokomo, though I've lived in Indianapolis most of the last few years.  Kokomo was hit extremely hard by the automotive companies there.  Delco/Delphi and Chrysler all took turns crushing the city around 2007-2008.  For those who want some stats - it was at 20% unemployment in about that time frame. 1 out of 5 and trust me it was worse then that figure tells. Forbes listed it as the hardest hit for job loss in ALL of America at 20% unemployment. As example 20% is close to what Detroit is "now". They could've done a special on it. Anyways. It's never going to be back to those days of everyone at the factories doing $50k to $200k, it's bounced back quite a bit from the nose dive. While the same folks who'd get new jobs starting at the factory around $25/hour now hit around $12-$15, there are jobs again and that makes for a lot of people who can't get home loans because of bankruptcy, *but* want a home and can make the payments. Great for that SF cookie cutter.  Still some good deals in the old Indiana Heights area even looking today. Many are the 50k-70k, 3 bed 1 bath and rent well for $450-$600 with a little a bit of polish.

Congrats. And thank you for taking the time for the write up. I really have to agree with Cara here, great encouragement. I don't think I've heard a persons first impressions of flipping, dealing with contracts from a distance and not coming from a construction background before...all at once!

Can't help but think of the expression,"Fortune favors the bold" in this case.

Hint, hint...I'd love your experience to be one of the next ones on the BiggerPockets podcasts. :)

Well, I figured I'd ask, I've had so far on this first flip a number of contractors who just plain didn't show up or - showed up so drunk I told them maybe it wasn't a good idea today.  I have 2 coming out here in a week - if I keep on the same "pace" I'll probably PM you!  If I find some good ones myself I'll be happy to pass it on. :)

@Josh C. did you ever get that good experience with a drywall contractor here in Indy? I'm looking for one myself! (whole house just pass inspections and is ready)

Lived for many years in Kokomo and have one rental there still but I'll say Indianapolis will give you quite a few more options for management companies and somewhat of a larger population to choose from in your rentals.

Lived in Broadripple for a long time, and now the "Sobro" area. One rental on 44th and another purchased on 42nd by College. The "Meridian Kessler Zone 4" area is growing for higher average wage per home. I'd say the younger job having crowd is somewhat focused more around a few anchors of SoBro. Moe and Johnnys / 20 Tap along with Fresh Market (53rd and 54th street) is a better direction to stick to that type of renter.

Now the question of how far would I go away from the 54th block for the higher class renter? 42nd. Though a great team is doing some amazing high quality work like this one at the block of the 40th. Don't do 38th unless you are very sure of what you're doing in that area - like around the Ivy Tech building maybe. But that's not SoBro to folks at all.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3962-Carrollton-...

Here's the next project that I'm personally hopeful for in this area. And will be a good area I think for my next rental purchase.  I'll be looking around there.http://www.ibj.com/articles/52510-developer-buys-f...

The more direct answer to your question though. Once you go a few streets towards fairgrounds it can get more towards the lower renter quality and even poorer quality maintained homes.

Maintenance aspect is higher here for these homes though anyways. I mean many are built around the 1910-1920 range with tons of deferred repairs needed for the "deals". If you do buy for your first rental, personally I would head to far away from College.  

Make sure you have an intelligent and chatty inspector walk through with you before you buy, there have been some not so top quality flippers putting paint on a pig in this area and would be a headache of deferred maintenance for a first rental.

Hello Ashton, sadly the paint looks like the pictures of mars, huge drips, globs, creases and lines. Painting over it is not an option really for the results I'm looking for. I'd love to powerwash it to remove the paint but hear a lot of warning on that.

Josh, yea where in the same boat somewhat. 4 weeks and 11k to strip the paint would make me think - how expensive is it to replace with SmartSide or something. Let me know how it goes by the way!

Do people know the cost of tearout, and cheap siding verses paint stripping?  That's really my focus right now to avoid 11k to 15k to strip the paint if it's only 15k to replace it. That mind set.  

Short version:  Is it cheaper to have 100 year old two story house with 4 layers of paint stripped and repainted or to have the siding ripped off and replaced?  

Longer one: Have a 1920 duplex, 2 story, 2900 sq ft in South Broadripple Indiana. And it's Orange. A little green. Oh some white and brown to boot. Layers and layers of paint on cedar. Cedar is in okay shape, say 10% replacement at max.

I've read every article I can find here and googled on how to change this economically.  It's a rental and I live in one side currently, but the outside is just awful. Feel free to look. 4343 N College Ave, Indianapolis.  The google image makes the paint look much nicer then it is also.

It'd be great to have it stripped somehow and repainted while replacing what boards are bad with hardi. I have absolutely no idea the labor it would cost to do it verses tearing it off and using another option.  Obvious answer is to get a few quotes. Right now I have to take unpaid time for that and currently spending every moment I can on a new rental purchase.  So figured - there has to be a wealth of people who've priced this out enough to give me the right direction.

Whats the normal cost difference of "strip 4 layers of paint, sand and repaint" per square verses rip off and new siding like SmartSide on a 2 story old house?

I've thought about on the other side of it using Removeall and hiring a crew to strip and repaint. Thoughts?

And yes, to the many of you who'd hate me to lose / cover the cedar, I really don't want too, but if it's 2x as much then to just rip it down, re wrap the house and new siding, then rip down it will be. (Or cover but hate doing that also)

Thanks!
Shannon