All Forum Posts by: Lee Smith

@Anthony Drew Gary Typically you need an ugly house to wholesale it..  Most of Fishers, is newer homes and not in bad shape, so they get sold on the retail market the majority of the time... 

Houses in the nicer areas(Carmel, Fishers, Zionsville, Greenwood, etc) even when in bad shape still get decent money, so Realtors are happy to list them... 

As others have said, it's not impossible to find deals in those areas, but it's pretty rare..

@Dennis Santa Paula 

I know the indianapolis market very well.. I also own a property management company.

Single families rent quicker and have tenants that stay longer than mutifams, but your cashflow is lower. Multifams take longer to rent, and you get quicker turnovers, but you get higher returns...

When dealing with multifams, you need to be aware of a couple of different things though.

• Higher vacancy rates, instead of 2-4 weeks to fill a single fam, you are looking at 4-8 weeks to fill a multifam.
• Higher turnover rates.. While my single fam renters generally rent for 3-4 years on average, my multifams only rent for 1 year on average.
• Watch out for owner paid utilities. These can break the deal. While water/sewer is easy to deal with, anytime you are paying for heat you are looking for trouble. Residents crank the heat up in the winter and then open a window to cool off...

I am not trying to scare you off, just you need to budget for them.

@Eric Andrews Raymond, from Real U, is a great source of info... I have known him for years... Awesome guy.. Heavily into real estate investing, and a real down to earth guy.. He not only teaches, he practices as well... He had a real estate rehabbing TV show, and I think is still on the radio for real estate...

He's a good guy and is very savvy on real estate in all forms...

 I am a heavy investor and I have my license.. I hear all sorts of reasons why not to get it, 

but none of them pan out... 

• I get access to my MLS for comps, etc.
• I do get credibility from buyers and sellers because I have my license.
• I do have to tell people I am licensed, but again most of them give me credibility for it.
• I get paid when I buy/sell properties on the MLS.
• I don't have to deal with idiot Realtors, because I r one... 
• It opens the doors for a lot of strategies and can help keep the local govt off your back because you are licensed.

I am actually a broker now, and own my own brokerage. I even founded a property management company and handle property management for other investors as well... 

I have yet to hear a reason NOT to get your license that was worth its' salt... I mean sure I spend money on association fees, etc but 1 deal a year off the mls generally pays all of those off..

@Charles Sullivan Indianapolis market may be rough, because our local MLS actively looks for out of state access to harass the agents about it.

@Andy Binford  You can do that easily on far east side of Indianapolis. Think German church or east... Lots of newer houses within the past 10-15 years that should easily be doable in your price and rent ranges... Give me a call to discuss if you like.. We help a lot of investors with purchases, rehabs, and property management.

@Annie Li I ran numbers after we got off the phone... Looks like a lot of 3+ bedrooms in the $650-700 range on the MLS for the one on Sheridan. On Hotpads.com I am seeing some active listings, not yours, for $700-800..

I am definitely NOT seeing it listed for rent on any of the normal sites. 

You just sent me an email about this one.. I replied so hopefully it gets filled with a good tenant.

I will try to get out for the other one today to take a look. I'll let you know.

Thanks for the tag @Mayank S.

@Mark Forest
We allow pets. We try to eliminate carpets. We get extra security deposit and additional monthly fees per pet. In Indiana too many people have pets.. I would say a majority of our renters have pets.

@Brandon SanAgustin  Talk to a title company and see if a quiet title would clear the code enforcement liens.. 

@Kenneth Dai I own a property management company in Indy, and here's my take on multifams in our market..

When dealing with multifams, you need to be aware of a couple of different things though.

• Higher vacancy rates, instead of 2-4 weeks to fill a single fam, you are looking at 4-8 weeks to fill a multifam.
• Higher turnover rates.. While my single fam renters generally rent for 3-4 years on average, my multifams only rent for 1 year on average.
• Watch out for owner paid utilities. These can break the deal. While water/sewer is easy to deal with, anytime you are paying for heat you are looking for trouble. Residents crank the heat up in the winter and then open a window to cool off...

I am not trying to scare you off, just you need to budget for them.

I have two duplexes on the same lot I am selling for $135,000.00 They gross over 2k a month.. At that PP it should cashflow $1094 a month without debt service. Solid brick, in decent area on quiet cul de sac. We totally rehabbed everything, maybe one furnace to be replaced in the next 3-5 years others are brand new. Offering seller financing on them as well.. Send me a PM and I can send you the cashflow analysis...