All Forum Posts by: Scott Steffek

Sezuo,

Indiana is a good place to invest. Taxes are much lower than Illinois in Merrillville, but Dyer taxes are just slightly lower than Illinois. You can get in to Merrillville for about $80k. We have properties there, where the taxes are only around $800 per year. The rents are only slightly lower than Illinois. We've been getting $1200-$1300 a month for 3 bedroom SFR's. PM me if I can help you further and best of luck to you.

Taylor,

The only problem I see with starting out with multi units is the prices. Multi's are typically more expensive than sfr's (single family homes).  But not always. I'm familiar with the area you live in,  as I'm about 2 hours north of you. But we sell some multi units for $80k or less. They're not in bad neighborhoods either. So take a look at what you can afford. Multi's usually provide a better "bang" for your buck, if you can find them for a good price. Keep in mind that quality property management is the key to a successful rental, once it's acquired. You can have the best deal in the state and if you have poor quality property management, you have nothing! I would suggest that you continue to search for information in the BP forums and also listen to their podcasts. There's a wealth of information here.  There are also very experienced people on this site, that will help you and answer your questions. Feel free to PM me if I can be of help. Best of luck to you.

Riley,

We work with investors all the time in Indiana and doing your homework is imperative. If you're holding, then you'll want to calculate the cash on cash return of each property, prior to buying. That gives you a guide, as to how much profit you'll make and what your projected costs are. BP has a sheet you can use. I would also search the forums on rental properties. You'll find a wealth of information for newbies. Feel free to PM me if I can be of help. Best of luck to you.

Mary Jay,

I started flipping houses in  Gary, many years ago. To make a long story short, I wouldn't invest in Gary unless you're a "tough as nails" investor. There's money to be made there, but you better have one of the best property managers in the state working for you!  As Eric Meyer pointed out, East Chicago is a decent place to invest. I have investors that have bought quite a few multi units from me out there, and they're satisfied. However, it's like any other city. It does have a few undesirable blocks and you just need to stay away from those. If you'd like more information, feel free to PM me. Best of luck to you.

Curtis,

What city is the 24 unit located in? Just so you know, you might have difficulty switching the water over to the tenants. Depending on where the property is located, $54 a square foot is quite a bit of money, when your rents are only averaging $650. I didn't take a real close look at everything, but it looks as though your cash on cash return percent is only 2.59%! I added in all of your monthly expenses, including your mortgage payment. I calculated the CCR only using a $900k purchase price. You should typically use the "all in" price. So if I use $1.2M, that lowers the CCR to 1.95%. Please private message me and I'll explain in more detail

Dajuan,

Welcome to BP. We're located in Northwest Indiana and I'd be happy to assist you. Just PM me. I wish you the best of luck.

Ray,

Welcome to BP. I can help you with a reliable contractor. He's very close to you, in Crown Point. Message me if you'd like more information. Best of luck to you.

Karla,

I live in Valpo and have a great realtor. She's a top producer and can assist you, if you don't use Ian. I also have an inspector who works on the side, that will do inspections for a very reasonable price. PM me if you'd like more information. Best of luck to you.

Hi Kyle and welcome. BP is an excellent place to gain knowledge about the business and also for solid advice. Check out the forums, the podcasts and webinars. I'm know there's a wealth of information just waiting for you. Best of luck to you.

I read some negative comments about TK companies. Even though we rarely sell TK rental properties, because for the most part they don't exist ( in my opinion), we don't keep a lot of them for ourselves because that's not our business model. I think that people need to be very aware of who they're dealing with. Just because a company doesn't keep TK properties, doesn't mean they're a bad investment. I believe Jay mentioned that some providers keep the "problem" properties for themselves, rather than sell them. I think that's true, if they're a reliable company. If you want investors to keep coming back, you HAVE to offer them a good product! Some wholesalers could care less what they sell you. As long as they make a buck, that's all they care about. But they won't last. People see right through that. As far as making money wholesaling, I have quite a few investors that know exactly how much we make on properties and others that would probably be upset if they knew. The ones that would be upset, don't understand the process or how things work. People work to make a living and should get paid for their efforts. We make a reasonable amount of money. Some deals are very good for s and I've also sold properties and only made $1000. It all depends on the deal. But I don't apologize for making money when I sell properties. We' doing a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes. We have to find quality deals, at a fair price. We need to physically go look at each property and determine if it's a deal or no deal. Our contractor has to  take time from his work schedule and visit the property, to determine the rehab costs. We have to put put together all of the information, for the investor to make a sound decision. That's only a small part of it. There's a tremendous amount of work that goes into finding a good deal. I would estimate that for every 6 or 8 properties we physically look at, we're lucky if we find one that will work. It requires a lot of time, energy, manpower and yes money, to do that. If it were easy, investors wouldn't need wholesalers! So some of you investors that buy from wholesalers and complain about their profits, give them a break. They do a lot more work than you think.