All Forum Posts by: Ken Scarbrough

I apologize if this sounds as stupid as I think it might, but can anyone go into more detail as to why it is important to find homes that have EQUITY as well as absentee owners? Couldn't one still find a good, cash flowing rental property  owned by an absentee owner even if it doesn't have a lot of equity?

@Ben Leybovich I appreciate your advice and will consider it strongly.  I will try and start to think more "outside of the box". I only have three properties though, so if it is not the time for me to be a buyer and I don't have anything to sell where does that leave me?

Thanks again for taking the time 

Thank you all for taking the time to respond!!

@Michael Lee I love real estate because I want to work for myself and improve my community while simultaneously finding financial freedom for myself, so I guess it would be a long term goal.  What do you mean when you say, "go to the chamber of commerce to find a good area"?

@Account Closed I asked Ben to embellish, I think I get the general idea but would love to hear more!

Hello All! My name is Kenneth Scarbrough. I am a long time reader/listener of bigger pockets but this will be my first post. I have lived in Indianapolis (primarily 46250 / 46226) for almost 20 years now, and about 3 years ago I decided I was tired of working for someone else. I hatched a plan to earn myself financial freedom and after some reading decided that real estate is more my kind of thing. So I took the plunge in 2014 and bought my first duplex in Castleton, Indiana, and cash was instantly flowing! I was excited for the money but learned a tough lesson when I realized how tough the tenants I inherited could be to deal with. Shortly after there leases ended, and after a month or so I had both units filled again (Indy has a pretty solid rental market, especially in the summer). After performing some renovations on duplex 1 I purchased another duplex on the same street, and based on some much need renovations to one side I decided to house hack and live in that side so as to renovate it while renting out the other. I inherited a tenant on that side as well, but she is awesome! Pays rent on time, takes care of the property, doesn't bother me unless it's something important. The 3 golden rules :) As 2015 rolls around it seems that the good deals are getting harder to find. After months of fruitless searching I managed to talk the owner of another duplex on my street into selling it to me. That was November 2015 and the home was empty upon purchase, so it took some time to get 2 stable, well-vetted tenants. Now I am back at it again looking for a good multi family property to invest in, but they seem overpriced now and still hard to find. So my question is, where do I go now? I know there are many ways to purchase a home, and there are many ways to find a good deal, but I feel like I'm hitting dead ends. I thought bigger pockets could assist me. So I am wondering if anyone can help by sharing a best practice or tactic they use to find good rental properties in a market that shows very little on the MLS?? Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated. I love providing people with quality homes, finding good tenants, and I am dedicated to improving the area in which I live and purchase homes. Kenneth Scarbrough

@Michael Jobe I can actually live in an apartment for less than what I can rent one side out for (I'm a single guy each side is 3 bed 2 bath), so I turn a profit by not living there. Also, I'm planning on moving in the next year and the current tenants have expressed interest in staying long term so I would feel stupid booting one to move in. 

*buy my first property without the worry

I apologize I'm at work typing fast and there were a few typos in my post.

I am new to this, so I might not be the best person to reply, but here are a few thoughts:

1) Everyone who goes into this know they are taking a risk. I tried and tried to determine a way that I could by my first property with the worry in the back of my head. It's not possible. I will tell you this though...if you don't act you will look back and always regret it.

2) still on the point of risk, I always asked people," this is so simple and the returns are amazing, why isn't everyone doing this?!?!" I discovered the reason. Risk. Only a select type of people have what it takes to step over the line and make the risk, and know deep down that they will find a way to make it. Most of those people are very wealthy for doing so.

As far as partnership, that is why I'm on this forum. I've also been thinking about partnering up, but am unsure how to go about it safely or if it is even a good choice. Seems it could be very beneficial for both parties, but it also seems like one party could get screwed if they aren't really on top of things and there partner is ethical. Looking forward to hearing more on this topic.

@joe Fairless

@Joe Fairless sounds perfect! I will definitely check this out once the dust settles from my current purchase. Sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for great advice!

@Joe Fairless see the above post it wouldn't tag you for some reason

Thanks everyone for being so welcoming!!

Sry it took so long to reply, I'm still dealing with this new property and haven't had a chance to jump in and utilize biggerpockets the way I intend to.

Thank you all for the words of advice and support.

@Joe Fairless , for my next property I'm thinking of going with a single family home as a rental investment since this would be cheaper than a duplex (my first property) and it would give me a little experience with single family homes. Any suggestions?

@Michael Jobe I was gonna live in one side but after running the numbers I found it would be better to leave tenants in the duplex and rent an apartment! Pretty exciting, but does it sound like I made the right choice?

@Shawn Holsapple thanks for the book recommendations! I've already read a few of those books and I really enjoy the rich dad series. Id love to hear any other suggestions you have.

Thanks again for everything!