All Forum Posts by: Tim Polk

@Julian A Beeks

Pay it forward

If you rent your cash flow will be almost zero once you factor in cap x, vacancy rate, maintenance etc.  If your looking to just hold it for appreciation than sure, 2.25% is a great rate.  If you're going to sell though I would do before you get outside of the 5/2 rule.  ie your primary residence for two of the last five years to avoid any capital gains.  

HELOC's are great, especially if it's your primary because sometimes you can get 90%-95% LTV and use it same as cash, write of the interest. However, they can be called back. So if you take out $100k HELOC and leverage it all, economy tanks, someone at the bank has a bad day, the world freezes over, all dramatic but you get the point they can call the loan due leaving you with a $100k bill you need to figure out how to pay off.

Could cash of refi but your monthly is going to go up and their is a cost to it.  Hope any of that was helpful 

I will be a little under an hour away from the city I am looking to buy the property in. 

If possible look closer to home, an hour doesn't sound like a lot until it is. 

I was wondering what would be the best way to collect rent. Should I pay around $20/month to have a website that tenants can pay rent and request maintenance through?  Would this cost be a tax deduction? Should I have the tenants mail their rent every month? Do I need to set up a PO box and would I be likely to receive rent late often if it was through the mail?

Don't put the carriage in front of the horse.  Focus on getting the deal.  That being said, do not allow personal checks or use USPS.  Online only.  Apartments.com, rentcafe, there are a ton of options and several discussions about this.  You don't need a PO box to start.  If you are worried about someone finding your personal address and assets that in it's own is a large topic of discussion with plenty of threads on it already. 

IMO start with find an investor friendly realtor to guide you and help you get setup.  Good luck out there! 

@Cory Kerr

A lot of investors in Lake County use Michael D. Kvachkoff, Crown Point.

@Loid Danga

Very clean cape cod in a desirable part of town with good school districts. Hot rental market, single bath hurts you a bit but it's not unreasonable to ask for $1,700.

Working on a purchase in Onekama/Portage Lake. Debating on a buy & build or finding something already turnkey for an air bnb. Looking to connect with anyone who has experience in that local market.

@Stephen Jones

I'd highly recommend Northwest Indiana. It's close to you, Indiana is a much more landlord friendly state and the returns are great. I personally have multi families in both and as of right now only looking to expand in Indiana.

Be happy to have a conversation.

@MIlton Monzon

The returns in Northwest Indiana can be fantastic for both ARV and cash flow. The rental demand especially in Lake County is incredibly high with a lot of people migrating from Illinois. As far as Peru I haven't gone that far so I couldn't offer you anything hyper local there. Was just curious on your interest there's as that's not a town brought up often when discussing NWI.

@Dylan Bair

Old post coming back to life. Who did you reach out to for help? Any take aways for the people following this forum? Were you successful in achieving your goals of investing in northwest Indiana? 2019 was a good year to invest here