Industrial Real Estate. Formerly Self-Storage. Local House Flipper
Northeast Indiana
Joined March 2022
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I'm in a small, rural market (Indiana).
Most of my house flipping business is in 2 counties that are combined about 100k people.
Most of the houses I flip sell for $200,000-275,000.
We are a market that is always stable. The big cities and big markets see big swings. Up, down, booming, or bust.
We are almost always steady. When markets go up 30+%, we go up maybe 10. Same as when they go down.
One thing that I have been seeing since October is basically a standstill in the market.
Good, solid houses (3/2 1400-2000sqft) in the 200-300k range are just sitting idle. These are houses that usually going pending within 1-2 weeks max.
Now they're at 30,45,60+ days on the market and still not pending.
Usually it slows down from Thanksgiving-February like clockwork (weather and holidays). However, I started noticing this in early October which was very strange because we had an unseasonably warm fall.
I'm currently finishing up a small 2/1 house that I thought was going to sell for about $175k, but I'll be extremely lucky if I get that.
Also, I just want to note that EVERY TIME I mention that you can buy nice, remodeled houses at this price point, people say these houses don't exist anywhere! Or if they do exist, they are dying towns with one stoplight ands a Dollar General. All I have to say is God bless the Midwest!
Anyways, I don't really have a point to make here. I have no crystal ball. I won't try to speculate anything. It has just been very odd to witness. I think I'm going to take the winter off from flipping anything.
Back in 2022 when we were in prime storage buying season, I was talking with a potential seller who was AWFUL to deal with.
We had come to an agreement on a number but I couldn’t get him to sign anything.
So I told him I was driving down.
13+ hour one way trip. I drove down to South Carolina to meet him at one of the facilities.
When I got there he was ready to blow me off. Told me he was busy dealing with an issue at one of his rental houses.
Yes, he knew I was driving down.
I finally got him to agree to come out. He walked me through the property then we drove an hour away to his other facility so I could walk it.
Told him we were all good to go at the price we agreed on.
He then called me to say that unless it was a suitcase of cash (yes, literally) he wasn’t going to sell it.
When I said we couldn’t do it quite like that, he called my business partner and started yelling at him about me.
This story doesn’t have a happy ending. We never ended up buying it. He never ended up selling it. It’s still sitting there slowly being taken over by nature.
It’s worth less now, but he probably thinks it’s worth more.
If I were to do it all again, I wouldn’t make a different decision I don’t think. I’ve bet on myself just driving to meet the person before.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
Real estate X - I have missed you dearly.
Over the last 18 months, we’ve purchased 3 more properties, and Lord willing, will close on another multi tenant industrial property next month.
We exited entirely from self storage. I’m not opposed to getting back into it at some point, but it hasn’t made sense yet.
AI has made in house management a cakewalk. I’m currently using GrokBot to blast out emails to fill vacancies in some of our multi tenant properties. It’s been a game changer.
Rates are what rates are. I don’t have a crystal ball, and I’m certainly not going to guess what will happen. We’ve been able to make some deals pencil.
It’s not the buying spree like it was back in 2021-22, but we’ve been able to find good deals. One thing I have noticed is that they have been moving a lot slower. We are nursing the leads we get. Getting lunch with people and just staying in touch.
Our latest deal that we should close next month, I drove a couple hours away to the guys office and had cigars. Then he drove me around town and showed me all of his properties.
That’s all the updates I have. God is good. Family is healthy. We are blessed to be able to keep buying and keep on keeping on.
Yes, I’m still flipping houses too. Albeit, not nearly as much as I used to or would like to.
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This may be a throwback for the industrial real estate folks on here:
Matt Onofrio, before get got in trouble, was supposed to release a book on industrial real estate investing.
I know some people got an early pdf copy.
Would anyone be willing to share that book with me?
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@jamesonhaslam I can’t find the tweet but you were talking about Whisper Flow or whatever it’s called not working great lately. I never liked whisper and felt it messed up too often.
I switched to Oasis and really like it
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Just closed on the nicest warehouse in our portfolio.
Showing it to the little man who will inherit it someday.
ChatGPT has been top notch for helping me remodel exteriors
I’ve always struggled with exterior redesign, but this should look good when done!
🤖 Made with AI
One of our latest purchases, and actually our third deal in this industrial park
- Multi tenant
- No current CAM charges
- 2 are on M2M leases
Going to take probably 18-24 months to get it stabilized with market rates, CAM charges, and some better leases
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Real estate, in particular, has a way of testing your ethics much easier than other industries.
You’re able to make a lot of extra money by bending your ethics, even if it’s legal.
I’m ashamed to say that I did it often early on in my career.
I was young and making a lot of money for my age. The ethics of it didn’t bug be back then, because I had blinders on and the only thing I cared about was the money…
But now I look back at that with a lot of shame.
Some of the things I even bragged about on here, like he is doing.
And I was mocked and shamed for it, as I should’ve been. I think it actually did help.
I hope this guy sees the error in his ways. He’s getting a lot of flack at the moment, and he should be.
Hoping that it makes him question some things like it did for me.
Fixer upper gets listed for $250k.
I offer $180k with 3% commission — I’m a licensed agent and my company is the buyer.
Plan is to wholesale it for $190k. Needs $75k in work and will be worth $320k after repairs.
Listing agent says too low.
4 weeks later our CRM notifies me the list price dropped to $225k. I follow up. Agent still says $180k is too low.
Another month goes by. CRM notifies me again — price drops to $210k. I follow up. Agent says they think it’ll work.
I draft the offer, send it over, and it gets accepted.
We price the deal at $190k and sell it — signed contract and EMD in hand.
While we’re still in DD, I tell the agent my buyer needs a $20k price reduction to move forward, but they’re ready to wire EM and waive the rest of DD.
Seller meets us halfway. Price drops to $170k.
We make $25k.
That’s the exact play we run wholesaling MLS properties.
Having a home gym is one of the best investments I’ve ever made.
Most days, my son joins me and hangs out and copies me by lifting small dumbbells and kettlebells.
Yes, it makes my workouts slower, messier, and more chaotic.
But you could never sell me on a gym membership now
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@CREXI_Mike Mike, 10k credit limits per month is fine, but can you give us the opportunity to purchase more credits for exports? I like Crexi, but I'm limited to do what I want to do if I can't buy credits past the 10,000/mo limit. It will take me months to do what I want to do.
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It is awesome to see these guys building this community just down the road from me!
Everyone knows Moscow and Ogden, but did you know we have something special building right here in north central Indiana?
One distinctive of our community here is its decentralized nature. That's obviously a strength and a weakness.
A weakness because we don't have the clout or finances a centralized movement could bring to help with growth, but a strength because we are protected from being personality driven, or too ideologically rigid.
What we have is an organic affiliation between a few churches, all within 30 minutes of one another. An organic community springing up deep in Amish country.
Pictured below is our co-op choir, a masterful choir headed up by pastor Austin Kaufman. (Pictured below at his church)
Our homeschool co-op was founded at my church, and has close to 100 kids in it. Choir, folk dance, theater...
There are men working to start a classical school.
We do multi-church hymn sings regularly.
We have conferences (Jesus and Politics headed by Tim Bushong)
This past fall we had a very robust Highland Games for men, with multi-church participation.
We have podcasting/media through Eschatology Matters. (Which itself is decentralized)
All 3 of these churches are pastored by unapologetic, gracious, and faithful men.
If you're looking for a healthy, growing reformed community, you should give us a look!
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Not only that, you should be concealed carrying as well.
It is your sole responsibility to be able to protect your family and yourself.
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Showing him the ropes:
Buying C-class storage facilities in small markets with lots of meat on the bone
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Another manufactured house turned into a manufactured home!
Here in Indiana, we have a TON of manufactured houses (steel frame) that are permanently placed on owned land.
I have learned that this is not common in most other states, probably because we make like 90% of them here in Indiana.
Yes, they are cheaper, but they are solid houses. They don’t depreciate here. I bought this one for $90k, put a lot into it, and it should sell for around $240k.
All new drywall, new roof, quartz countertops, custom cabinets, all new everything.
These are fantastic houses to remodel.
If your baby is having trouble sleeping in the car, put on Tettegouche by Dead Man Winter.
@tbtduluth please let me know if anyone listened more than me!
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