Out of state investor needs advice

[Brett Wilson]

Hello,

I'm a Santa Barbara base investor looking to purchase one to three homes in the Indianapolis area in the next three-six months. Here are my expectations under $100,000 purchase price with $12-$15,000 in rehab cost and to have an ARV of plus $200k. I would like to refi within 90 days pull out the equity and do it again. I'm just wondering if this is a realistic approach in the Indianapolis area. Additionally, I found a few all in one property management companies that could do everything from finding the property to managing the rehab hiring contractors, etc. I'm wondering if this is something worth exploring or if I should manage the project myself. However, living in California will be unable to spend 40 to 60 days to manage a project start to finish. Is it worth the extra couple thousand dollars per year per house to have the all in one concierge service? I can fly out for a week at the beginning and the end of the project but obviously that's not ideal if I'm managing the project myself. So I guess my question is worth it to have one of these companies manager project from start to finish with me flying out to shake hands and see the properties and then come in once or twice during the project to make sure things are running smoothly? And is it reasonable to expect a refi within 90 days of purchase? Should I use the contacts at one of these companies for their private lending or should I find my own? I appreciate it.

[Nick Giulioni]

@Brett Wilson I’ve been investing in Indianapolis since 2017 and have completed a few hundred projects here at this point. I want to be straightforward because the numbers you’re targeting just aren’t realistic in this market today. There’s no scenario where you put $12–15k into a property and reliably create $100k of value on the back end. The kind of arbitrage you’re describing hasn’t existed here for years.

That said, there are solid opportunities in Indy if you underwrite deals with today's pricing, rehab costs, and ARV expectations. I've been a long-distance investor myself for most of my portfolio, and more recently I run a construction company here locally, so if you ever want to sanity-check deals, get clarity on neighborhoods, rehab budgeting, contractor expectations, or anything else, feel free to reach out. Happy to help however I can as you get your footing in this market.