All Forum Posts by: Scott Swanson

Alec,

We do business in Northwest Indiana as well. One way to buy without a loan, is to do seller financing. When we lock up properties for our investors, we always ask the seller if they're willing to finance the deal. If they say yes, we move forward, if it's a good deal. Here's an example of how it might work for a duplex. These numbers are just an example: Purchase price = $85k. Down payment = $15k. Payment to seller each month = $600. That amount goes to the principle. You pay taxes and insurance = $110. Rent = $1400 a month. Property management = $140 a month. So your total out of pocket costs per month are $850. Take another $140 a month and just put it "aside" for maintenance and vacancy. But you don't pay that, you just "save" it. So your payments are $850 and then $140 for vacancy, for a total of $990. You're bringing in $1400, so your profit each month is $410. So let's say you take out the loan for 5 years. At the end of 5 years, you would owe the seller $34k. I don't want to complicate it, but if you saved the net cash flow every month, plus an additional $140, you'd have enough money to pay off the loan at the end of the 5 years. Your second exit strategy would be that you can refi the property. If you refi at say $65k and saved the money each month to pay off the loan on the first property, you now have an additional $65k to put down on other properties. If you can find a few properties for say....$15k down, you can now afford to buy 3 more properties, on seller finance deals. This is how you build wealth and expand your portfolio. It's a no brainer! It's called the BRRRRR method. The issue becomes finding sellers that are willing to do this, plus these type of deals go very quickly. I hope this helps and I hope I didn't complicate it!

Carol,

I have one for Illinois. PM me.

Ben,

I stay away from them. Right now, the market is very tight. So you have a lot of investors that are bidding at the Lake County sale. So it's difficult to find a good deal. They seem to always overbid and kill the good deals! They let their emotions get the best of them and that is VERY dangerous. PM me if you're looking for properties in NW Indiana, because we work with investors all over the nation and find them solid investment properties. Best of luck. 

Hi Ben,

Which county are you talking about? Remember that if you buy a tax sale property in most counties in Indiana, the owner has one year to redeem the property and pay the back taxes, plus interest. So if a house is sitting vacant that you bought in a tax sale, you have to wait a year to take possession. A lot can happen to a property in Indiana, that sits for a year or more! Liens are wiped out on tax sales. However, government liens and judgments are not wiped out. Best of luck. 

Matt,

We're over in Porter county, not far from you. 

Ketan,

I live near Gary and PLEASE be very careful buying there. We offer properties in cities surrounding Gary, but we will not offer investors properties in Gary. It is a very tough and difficult market. PM me if you'd like more information.

Remember that if you buy a foreclosure and try to sell them to investors, usually the banks won't allow you to do that. They require that the buyer use the home as their primary residence for a year or two. 

Good luck. They're next to impossible to find! But you might want to look up probate attorneys in your area and see if they'll work with you. Good luck.

Clifton,

Are you interested in properties in Indiana? I know someone who has a program that allows long distance investors to buy out of state. They do everything for you, so you don't need to worry about how you'll accomplish everything. It might be worth your while. Good luck. 

Caleb,

I question your 7% return. I think Darius spelled it out already though. You also have to include maintenance on the "inside" of the apartments and also vacancy, when you calculate your return. You might want to look at something less expensive, with higher rents. For example, we got an investor a duplex for $94k and the rent total is $1700 a month. So the return was very high. Best of luck.