All Forum Posts by: Justin Wawrzyniak

@Derek Jones

You’ve got the right mentality wanting to invest in real estate! It’s such a powerful vehicle to financial freedom. Feel free to connect!

Flashback to 18yrs old... I am just starting the difficult path of becoming a Mechanical Engineer. On this path, I spent countless long hours studying my butt off to be the best Engineer that I could be. And I did just that! I graduated top in my class. I had two summer internships at a Fortune 200 Defense Company. I catapulted that academic success into a job with one a top global Pharmaceutical company. The job moved me from Florida to Indianapolis, IN where I now live.

Things were great...I had a secure job, great benefits, I was living in a great city, and amazing friends. But something was missing! I was miserable at my job. There was no passion there. I had spent so much energy preparing for the Engineering field that I didn't even stop to consider I might not enjoy the work.

However, there was something in my life that I did enjoy doing. That was Real Estate Investing and it was my true passion. If I wasn't at work, I was consuming as much real estate content as possible (BiggerPockets, podcasts, books, etc.). I took action on my first investment property in under 1 year while still working full-time in a demanding 60hr/wk engineering job. It was a House Hack (term coined by Brandon Turner that means buying an owner-occupied 1-4 unit property and renting out rooms/units to cover the mortgage).

I wont go too much into the details of the deal but I am currently living at the property while putting $200/mo in my pocket. I'm not just living for FREE, I'm getting paid $200/mo to live in a great neighborhood just minutes away from Downtown Indy!! How cool is that!! Now if you factor in average rent of a 2b/1b in my area (~$1000/mo) then the deal gets even better. That's because I would be paying $1k/mo to live somewhere else but instead I'm making $200/mo (so the spread is really $1200/mo!!!).

Now here's the best part.....because I am saving so much money on living expenses, I was able to build up a substantial amount of capital. I saved up so much that I was able to QUIT my 9-5 corporate job after just 2 years in the workforce. Now I am able to put all of my time and energy into pursuing my real estate passion!

So what does that real estate passion look like?

• - The capital I've built up gave me enough runway to become a licensed Indiana real estate broker where I can now help other find residential and investment properties to make their dreams a reality!!
• - My partners and I are actively targeting and buying self-storage and small multifamily deals. This is building my portfolio and long term wealth!
• - Building out systems and processes to allow my business to grow without me!

And this, my friends, is how I was able to quit my job after just 1 house hack. I hope you enjoyed my story and I'd love to hear if anyone else has executed a successful House Hack?

Hi Claudia! You've got the right mindset wanting to get started investing in Indy. I purchased my first investment property here in May 2019 and have been cash flowing like crazy :) I actually am partnered with Elite Indy Realty Group and we are investor-friendly real estate agents (we work with lots of out of state investors who simply cant invest in their cities because it costs too much!). There are opportunities in multiple neighborhoods here depending on your price point and investment goals. 

Hope this helps! Feel free to message me if you have any other questions. I can also provide some local property management referrals depending on the investment property and side of town its on. 

So I have grazed through Indianapolis Craigslist "For Rent" ads and identified some mom and pop type rentals that I plan to cold-call to see if they'd actually be interested in selling their properties. Instead of just 'winging it', I'd like to have an effective script to use with these potential sellers. 

Does anyone have a decent script/template that they use for these cold-calls to help ensure all the right information is captured?

@Brandon Wells You missed a good one. @Kent Ritter has done a great job organizing this meetup. Check out the meetup group https://www.meetup.com/Indianapolis-Multifamily-Investing-Meetup/ for Kent's upcoming events.

Here is the meetup link to the next meeting- http://meetu.ps/e/HFGth/MQLfV/...

it has the location and time of next event. See you there!

@Dakota Wilde thanks for the resource! I’ll have to check it out.

@Karen Margrave don’t sweat it! I love the respect and regard you have for the tenant. Treat them well and they treat you well in return.

@Ralph Justiz Thank you for the helpful advice. I'm thinking that setting out new rules now and building them into a renewal lease will help me transition to the business focused landlord. I'll have to check out Cozy as well. 

@Karen Margrave I may have worded things a bit wrong when writing my post. My tenants are great and in no way would I evict them. I have a year lease with them that is done in a couple months and they have not resigned a renewal. That's what I meant by letting it run out and get new tenants in. 

@Kent Ritter unfortunately I won't be able to make this month's meetup (night shift this week). We will have to connect next time!