Buying Your First Investment Property?
If this is your first investment property or even your hundredth, we realize sometimes this can be a daunting and complicated task. FS Houses is here to help!
Initial Contact
At any given time, we have more interest in our properties and services than we are able to provide, so please be patient when it comes to returning your inquiry. Rest assured a licensed broker will be reaching out as soon as possible!
- Some of these introductory conversations can take up to 45 minutes or longer, so be prepared to allow time for the call. Usually, an appropriate time will need to be arranged between both you and your broker.
- Before picking out your first property, we always recommend coming to Indianapolis and meeting with our team! We really do have some of the friendliest agents in Indy!
- During your visit, you can see the whole city, specific neighborhoods, properties, and rehabs, and have a chance to talk with the company owners, Ryan and Ashley Mullin.
Picking Out a Property
Before purchasing a property, there are some tradeoffs and factors to consider. Just because one property has a better Cap Rate than another property, doesn’t mean that it will be more profitable as an investment.
- Equity and Appreciation are very important aspects of Real Estate that should not be glossed over or ignored in order to obtain a better cash flow.
- When you decide to exit the property and liquidate, you want to have some value in the property so you don’t take a loss on the sale. That loss could ruin the overall ROI (Return on Investment) of the Buy and Hold.
- Conversely, if you buy with equity (or appreciation), there should be profit in the deal upon exit. We understand Indy is a cash flow market, and that’s why you’re shopping here, but not all areas of Indy are created equal. Some neighborhoods of Indy are on the decline, some are on the rise, and others are completely stable.
- The nature of a “Buy and Hold” is a long-term investment. The cash flow today may or may not be the cash flow of tomorrow. Helping our clients understand all aspects of each property is extremely important to us!
Projections
We try our best to produce the most accurate estimates of ROI that we possibly can. However, because of the volatile nature of Real Estate investing, it is impossible to predict real returns on a 100% accurate basis.
- We plug in estimated costs for maintenance, CAPex, vacancy, insurance costs, taxes, etc. These projections are just estimates, and not meant to be taken as 100% accurate predictions.
- We strongly advise that you do your own due diligence on every investment property, and run your own numbers!
Areas
Ryan and Ashley have personally bought, sold, rehabbed, managed, and leased in every area of Indianapolis. After seeing it all, they have always been drawn back to investing in their “back yard” of downtown Indianapolis. The Mullin’s live, work, and play in downtown Indy, and know that like-minded tenants want to be near the action as well!
- Why is downtown the best investment? Good tenants, relatively low taxes, and the potential for appreciation and immediate built-in equity. One frequently asked question is about the school systems downtown.
- Admittedly, the downtown public school system is not the best in the nation which makes property taxes and school systems a direct tradeoff. Property taxes are low, and taxes fund the schools, so you can see how that works!
- The majority of our tenant demographic downtown is young professionals that don’t yet have kids but do have stable jobs, good credit, and disposable income. They are more interested in being close to all of the new restaurants, bars, venues, and shops popping up around downtown Indy. No need to worry about schools!
Making an Offer
Our licensed brokers are here to help and represent YOU, not the sellers.
- We will help with not only the purchase agreement and negotiations, but also scheduling any inspections or appraisals, coordinating repairs, and following the transaction through the title company until closing.
- Like any other Real Estate transaction, the sellers pay the commission at closing, so there is no cost to you for our brokers to represent you!
Rehab
Because we sell some houses in the 30K’s, and we sell houses in the 130K’s (and everything in between!), you can see a variety of rehab levels.
- On some properties, very little is required to be repaired. On others, we may replace every major ticket item and then some!
- The amount of work we do is very specific to each home, and we take everything into consideration. For example, if the roof has another 4-5 years left, we leave it be. That saves money for the buyer and the seller.
- Other items like HVAC aren’t so predictable and require a judgment call. Typically, if a furnace looks less than 6 years old, we will leave it be. If it looks older and is in disrepair, we will usually replace it.
Inspections
No matter how well a property is rehabbed, the inspection report will ALWAYS reveal plenty of possible issues with a home. It’s not only common but expected to have a lengthy inspection report on every single inspection.
- Even brand new constructed homes will come with a lengthy list of repairs that may be necessary.
- When you receive your inspection report, please DO NOT PANIC. Allow the sellers a reasonable amount of time to comb over the report and make notes on what items they will repair.
- As sellers, we typically allot a reasonable amount of money to fix problems or to make repairs preventing future problems. The inspection report doubles as a checklist for completion of items that were repaired by the contractor during the initial rehab.
- Without the help of a professional inspection company, these items may be very difficult to identify.
- Please keep in mind that you have a licensed broker representing you; if you are not happy with items found on the inspection report, your broker can submit a Buyers Inspection Response outlining what you want to be repaired.
- The inspection serves as a tool to be used to “renegotiate” the deal based on the new information provided.
Financing
Need a great mortgage broker to help with a loan on your rental properties? We have the guy for you! Let us know via email, text or fill out the form below and we can send you his information. A vast majority of our buyers purchase properties with conventional financing through this particular mortgage broker.
Have questions?
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