What’s Your Buy Box in the Indianapolis Market Right Now?

Question

Hey BP —

I’ve been working the Indianapolis metro for a while now and I’m curious what other wholesalers and buyers are seeing on the ground.

I’m pulling deals across inner-city Indy, the suburbs, and out into Hamilton County. ARVs in the $175K–$300K+ range seem to be where the most activity is, but I’m wondering if others are finding sweet spots I’m not targeting yet.

A few things I’d love to hear from this community:

∙ What areas are your buyers most hungry for right now?

∙ Are you finding more traction with flippers or buy-and-hold investors in the Indy market?

∙ Hamilton County (Carmel, Zionsville, Fishers) — are wholesalers having success there or is it too retail-heavy?

Not looking to pitch anything here — just genuinely want to compare notes with people who are active in this market. Indianapolis feels like it has a lot of room right now and I’d rather learn from people already in it than figure it out the hard way.

Drop your thoughts below. Happy to share what I’m seeing too.

— Joseph | Indiana Cash Home Buyers

Frank Pyle · Answer

Right now I’d say the cleanest buy box in Indy is still bread and butter flips and rentals where the ARV lands around that 175 to 250 range and the rent or resale spread is obvious, because the higher end suburbs get retail fast and leave less room for a wholesaler. Indianapolis overall is seeing more inventory and more price cuts, which usually helps buy and hold buyers and disciplined flippers more than it helps thin margin assignments, and Hamilton County pricing is still high enough that most deals need a really strong discount to work. (Realtor) My quick filter would be simple. If the deal is a rental, make sure rent minus PITI minus PM minus maintenance still leaves real cash flow. If it is a flip, I’d want enough room that a price cut on the back end does not kill the deal. Are your buyers closing faster right now on east side and south side rental product or on cosmetic flip deals in the suburbs?

If you want to compare notes on underwriting or what buyers are actually responding to in Indy, send me a couple sample deals and I’ll give you a straight read. IEC can help with the deal analysis side too if you want a second set of eyes on what is really moving.

Josh C. · Answer

Honestly we buy everything that is a good deal. Fire and flood house super cheap and 7 figure multis if it’s a good deal. Once bought a house for $1.

If you are wholesaling actually deals and not pie in the sky trash like so many wholesalers are, there are lots of buyers. Add me to your list.

Allen Phelps · Answer

We are buying only in Washington Township, Carmel, Zionsville or Fishers in only A/B neighborhoods.

Gloria N Gear · Answer

What Frank said!  (Contact him, he has some great evaluation tools).  The suburbs of Indy are just harder to make the numbers work.  The median sales price for Hamilton County is $445K and for Hendricks (west) and Johnson (south) are $350K.  Look just inside the 465 circle for properties under $200K and then various neighborhoods in the downtown area.  I am going to DM you some more contacts.