New investor in Indiana

Hello everyone, I am interested in any and all advice concerning property in Indianapolis, IN or Chicago, IL area. My current focus is on IN. I am familiarizing myself with the Indy market and am wondering if anyone knows areas that I should target as buy and hold or buy, rehab,rent and flip to other investors.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:48AM

Jason Hanson

Real Estate Coach · Oakton, Virginia

696 posts
5 awards
50 influence

Sep 01 '08, 12:56 AM

Tony,

If you can attend local REIA meetings to learn more about the market, I have included below a list of REIA's.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investment-clubs.html

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:48AM

Ethan Vegas

Real Estate Investor · Los Angeles, CA

13 posts
50 influence

Sep 01 '08, 12:09 PM

Hi Tony, Welcome. I have done a lot of research throughout the mid west, and especially Indiana. It is one of the few places that there is an abundance of areas that work well for buy and hold (Muncie, Ft. Wayne, S. Bend, and Anderson, kust to name a few). Be sure to consider factors such as median income, median home price, vacancy rate, percentage of rentals on the market, and unemployment rates. Good luck!!!

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:48AM

Joshua Dorkin

BiggerPockets Founder · Denver, Colorado

Donor Pro

11,044 posts
24 awards
92 influence

Sep 06 '08, 05:26 AM

Welcome, Tony. There are certainly plenty of available and affordable properties around Indy. What is it that you're planning on doing? You should have a concrete plan and stick with it. If you want to become a landlord, do that, but do it methodically. The same goes for rehabbing or wholesaling.

Are you inclined one way or another?

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:51AM

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Brad Mccarter

14 posts
1 award
50 influence

Sep 06 '08, 11:00 AM

Indy is great for affordability and cash flow. It is a big area with lots of neighborhoods like anywhere else. Feel free to pm me. I have been buying rentals there over the last year or so.
good luck and welcome.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:51AM

Tony Tomasek

Real Estate Investor · Las Vegas, NV - LAS, Nevada

168 posts
4 awards
51 influence

Sep 07 '08, 04:44 AM

My main goal is to invest for cashflow. I am seeing investments that I can put about 40K or less into and create large amounts of equity and good cashflow. I am wondering what areas to target for buy and hold, and which to target for wholesale etc. Also any areas to stay away from since none of Indy seems as rough as the South Side of Chicago.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:51AM

Michael Shadow

Multi-family Investor · Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

1,042 posts
9 awards
49 influence

Sep 07 '08, 08:10 PM

Welcome to BiggerPockets Tony.

-Michael

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:52AM

Rob I.

Homeowner · Indiana

2 posts
50 influence

Sep 14 '08, 11:33 AM

Hi, I am interested in investing in Indy also and have just moved here from Chicago in the last year. It seems that properties here would be much more affordable and profitable for a buy and hold investor here. Just from looking around at listings, buying at close to listing prices would still be profitable (to rent out with cash flow) in Indy while in Chicago you would need to buy at a heavy discount to obtain a profitable rental. Is this the case or am I missing something? I am a newbie at this so any help would be appreciated. Also, a mortgage broker told me in order to obtain a decent interest rate, I would probably need 20% down for an investment property. Is this always the case? Hopefully, I am not repeating questions in other posts, but there are many posts. Thanks again for any comments.

Rob

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:55AM

Leesa Cramer

Real Estate Investor · Levittown, Pennsylvania

36 posts
1 award
50 influence

Sep 14 '08, 07:15 PM

Hi Tony,
Welcome to the club!

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:55AM

Ryan Steele

Real Estate Investor · Chicago, Illinois

957 posts
3 awards
50 influence

Sep 23 '08, 04:03 AM

I have been to Indy a few times, and have been intrigued by the possibilities, although not enough to really follow through on anything there. For me there are to many possibilities right here in the Greater Chicagoland area, that I don't need to hike all the way to Indy.

Oh and just a reminder, the Bears might stink this year, but we did beat the Colts on Opening Night!

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 05:59AM

Christopher Wynkoop

Residential Real Estate Agent · Indy, Indiana

4 posts
50 influence

Oct 15 '08, 08:28 AM

I am an agent in Indianapolis. I grew up in the Indy area and I am very familiar with the area. We are one of the leaders in the area for REO's. If I can be of any help, just let me know.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 06:08AM by Christopher Wynkoop