All Forum Posts by: Anthony G

Rent that's priced right and good maintenance.  I only want good tenants to move out if they are buying a house or moving out of the area.  It's much cheaper to keep a good tenant than to constantly turn over units.

@Tomer Kamil That's a tough question.  When I first came to Indy, I looked at properties all over the city and through process of elimination found a neighborhood that I liked (Irvington).  I think if I were you, I'd figure out your budget. Make a list of properties that would be interested in on paper. Then check them out in person and see what your tolerance level is for the different neighborhoods.  Like most rentals, the higher crime areas will have lower costs to buy and higher rental returns.  But with that will come more headaches, damage from tenants, and turnover.   There were some where I loved what I saw on the listing but when I went to see it, I realized it was one block away from the neighborhood that I thought it was in and that can be a really big deal in Indianapolis.  There are pockets of good and bad areas all around the city.

@Tomer Kamil  As far as Indianapolis goes those would be in completely different areas of the city.  There are a couple members on here from Indy that will warn you about older duplexes like the one you list on Carrolton.  I actually own one and am happy with it but it is in a nicer area than the one you listed.  Have you made a trip out to Indy to look at any houses or neighborhoods in person yet?

What neighborhood/cross streets are you looking at?

I thought of another one, again on my dad's old building. While he was out of town my mom got a call around 9PM from a tenant claiming the electricity wasn't working in the unit.  Minutes before sending out a union electrician that lived down the street it's determined that the tenant hadn't paid the power bill......

I should add that my rentals have working class people that are reasonable to deal with.  My dad had a larger apartment building back in St. Louis with low-income tenants and he got some stupid calls.  I remember one about a clogged sink drain that ended up being spaghetti caught is the p-trap, so stupid, such a waist or time.

@Account Closed  I can't say that I've ever gotten calls at 3AM, but I have got calls about septic systems when I'm at nephews birthday parties or text messages while I'm on vacation.  It is inconvenient, but ultimately I've saved a lot of money by dealing with these issues myself instead of hiring a PM.  You should note that I currently only have 4 doors so as you scale up your chances of a 3AM phone call increase.

At $24K, could you just take out a personal loan?  What neighborhood is this in?

@Keith Goodwine How big is the junkyard?  I would think junkyards would benefit greatly from economies of scale.

@Jose Cordero Do you have an estimate for what the foundation repairs will cost?