All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I do both Indy and Noblesville/Hamilton county myself.  Be prepared to dig deep to find the deals these days.  I would caution on finding the best house in an area for a flip.  Personally I prefer being the dog on the block and let the others pull me up.  Don't get fancy and drive up cost of improvements.  Comps are brutal in this market.  Have fun and expect the unexpected!  

@Laura Williams I could not find any color info, but here is a more current picture for what that is worth.  I'd go with any nice bright cream on large areas and a dark brown choclate on highlight areas like shutters and doors.  We wanted to tone down the stone with natural colors.  

Hi Laura!  Cool project ..... We have a house with similar stone.  We went with cream  to brighten this one up....and chocolate front door and garage door (not in picture below as it's out of date).  Would go with muted colors to tone down the stone.  Have fun...looks like a cool house.  

If you dive in that pool be ready to say "yes dear" with sincerity!

There are lots of twists and turns on the road to REI success.

If the project can be scoped out in detail, do a thorough job of it. Make sure to be ready to handle change management carefully in the contract and execution stage. Have boots on the ground that can watch the job daily if possible. Hopefully they could do a skype call with you where you can see the job live without being there. I would think you would want to find an honest experienced kind of person...perhaps someone semi retired that lives in the area of the job to keep you connected if possible. If you are making a trip out there personally, network around and get a good local. There may be an REI club or something like that could help. Control and pay the material cost carefully yourself and put the labor cost/control on the contractor to manage.

@Dean Letfus Small world! Thanks for posting.  Very interesting topic.  She was looking at our portfolio of properties about two or three years ago in Indianapolis.  Something didn't seem right about the whole thing at the time.  

I switched over from CL and found the new sites dominate!  It has smoothed out the marketing and leasing greatly.  Been getting great results.  Just went to a PM seminar put on by one of the dominate PM SW companines.....it's all about mobile and the milenials and being online in their play book.  

I've experimented with this and found it a challenge to avoid what @Dave Gallogly spoke of above.  Curious neighbors and bottom feeders were more common callers than getting any real buyers.  It seems like there would be a way to find people that would appreciate having input on the finishes of the home, but I've not found out how to locate buyers prior to project completion.  Would like to know if someone has an approach that works here though!

@Aaron Xie Prices have appreciated since three years ago, but Indianapolis has a relatively stable market.   I've found the cash flow excellent in good times and bad.  Real estate is a relatively stable and conservative investment, particularly in this city.  I stick to residential and enjoy both the SFHs and Duplexes personally.  I prefer rent range of 700 to 1400 range myself.  I stay out of the rough areas for the most part, but even those can work with the right PM.  Select an excellent PM and they can help you navigate areas that will work the best.

I try to stay away from carpet.  It's expensive, mis used and fills up the landfills.  I prefer laminates, hardwood and tile for higher end.  Tile is great where you have a concrete surface. They have wood laminate looking tiles that are cool and cheap.  Put a low cost area rug in there to display how easy they can buy their own.