Indy Rental News for Investors

The Crager-Bartels main office has added a new phone system that the vendor promises will allow us to work more efficiently and handle more calls. I’m paying for performance so I hope they’re right.

Multiple extensions, on hold music, we’ve spared no expense–but we did stick to a budget. So for the next few weeks when you call in give us a chance to learn all the new features before you bite our heads off–there always seems to be a break in period in even the simplest or most fool proof business tools we all use in today’s business.

Also please welcome Karen Parker to our Property Management staff at Crager-Bartels. If you get lucky, you just may speak to this wonderful new addition to our team. She is already learning at a quick pace and will be up to 100% full speed very soon I’m sure of it.

Finally, I want to remind you that Indianapolis refuses to take part in the national real estate slump. I’ve said it before and I’ll do it again–Indianapolis fell into the real estate slump a full 2+ years before the rest of the nation and because of this has recovered 2 years ahead of the rest of the nation. Prime time to make a purchase is through June 2009 and there is no time better than today for investing in a new home in Indianapolis. Indy’s market is on a slow and steady pull into profitability and we still have access to good inventory. If you have an agent talk to them if not give Derek or Craig a call asap. 317.796.9825 or 317.490.5074.  Making this kind of money in real estate only happens once every twenty years.

To counter the annual slowdown of the rental market in Indianapolis Indiana and the surrounding communities, Crager-Bartels Real Estate has tripled our ad budget for this year.

Why have we done this?  Because we value our clients’ trust in us to maximize return on investment and minimize monthly expenses.

Crager-Bartels Real Estate services has demonstrated this past year that we rent your properties in and around Indianapolis Indiana at 10% to 18% more than any other property management firm in the area.  Through this past season we set records as to the speed of which we rented your new properties.  1/3 were rented on the day of close.  1/3 were rented within one week of close.  That’s 2/3 of all properties we manage being rented withing seven days at above market rents.

Is there opportunity in Indianapolis today?  The major media outlets and research centers say so.  The question to ask yourself today is not ‘What I can make by investing in Indianapolis Indiana metropolitan area?’ but ‘How much will I lose by investing elsewhere or not at all?’

Have any questions?  Give Derek or Craig a call.  With decades of experience, we are the Indy Resourcing Experts!

317.796.9825  317.490l5074  317.839.8786

Hats off to all Veteren’s this week.  Due to the holiday today your rent payments may be postponed 24-48 hours.  I did get a few out last Friday

My daughter competed this past weekend in the Veteren’s Cup Soccer Invitational to honor the local veterens in the mid-west.  By the way, her team won! Winning Scores.

Wow!  What a weekend in Chicago.  It’s now 2:15am Monday morning and I just got home.  Craig will get home in about 30 minutes.

I just had to share with you some great news.  We just spent three days in Chicago at the Donald Trump / Learning Annex Real Estate Expo and had a blast.  We learned a lot too.  The biggest item of interest for you is the unquenchable thirst for property in Indianapolis that became a common theme for many people that we spoke to.  This confirms the fact that you have made a good choice in location for your property investment.

Craig and I got to meet Donald Trump, Tony Robbins & Joe Vitale(The Secret).  Additionally, Alan Greenspan made an appearance as well as George Foreman, Dr. Albert Lowry(The godfather of real estate investing) and Than Merrill from A&E’s Flip This House.  A few others you may have heard of, Robert Shemin, David Lindahl & James Smith.  There were over 30 speakers total.

The overall appreciation for the Indianapolis market really caught us by surprise.  I know you are smart enough to already have purchased your property in Indy–way ahead of the curve I believe.  From the actions and reactions I saw this past weekend Indianapolis will continue to be a great place to buy with property appreciation almost guaranteed.

From my point of view I currently recommend continued buying in the Indianapolis market for the next six months–the next three are optimum.  I say three months because this will allow you to close and take possession of your home at the beginning of spring, which is the best time of the year to market properties around here.  When I say best I mean that rental amounts are the highest and vacancy rates are the shortest.

What gives me my current optimism?  What is the impetus of my recommendation?  If you ever invest in the stock market one of the rules of profit is to follow the smart money.  In this weekend alone I personally met three groups that plan to invest $50 Million to $200 Million in the Indianpolis area.  What does this mean for you?  You are a smart investor, you already know what this means–this means that additional purchases will secure the growth and appreciations of your properties.  The more you own in Indianapolis, the more your investment will grow.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the Go Zone investment areas in North America.  Sounds great on the surface–the first two years will provide great benefits, but tell me this.  What happens ‘If’ these areas are over built?  Any market frenzy brings about opportunity, but for security you need continuity.  Indianapolis has continuity–do the go zone areas have stability?  Remember the gold rush in the 1800′s?(If you do personally, I’ll buy you lunch.)  The gold rush sounded great.  It sounded like opportunity for the masses but the reality of it was that only 10% of these speculators actually made a good profit.  Many died of hunger or were taken advantage of by opportunists who exploited the situation.  Don’t let this GoZone frenzy cause you to make poor decisions and cost you a fortune.

Alan Greenspan spoke of irrational exhuberance in the stock market in the late 1990′s.  On CNN last week he spoke of this phenomenon in the real estate market.  Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t make it right–or safe–or secure–or legal, etc.  I firmly believe that Indianapolis is ‘THE’ best place in America to invest.  Or course I’m biased, I live her and have for 40 years.  But the reality of my geographic location has actually caused me to ‘Not see the forest for the trees.’  I didn’t realize how good an investment Indianapolis truly is until about the fifth or sixth national article that told how great a place Indianpolis is to invest.  CnnMoney, Business 2.0, USA Today, Moody’s Investor Service, etc., etc., etc.  Just like the 1970′s song, “I can see clearly now, the rain is gone”, that is how I feel right now and the Chicago Real Estate Expo had 50,000 attendees who heard and read the same articles and predictions.

Bottom line–Congratulations on being at the forefront of those who saw Indianapolis as the best place to invest.  I’ll leave you now with a quote from one of my all time favorite investors, Warren Buffet. “Put all your eggs in one basket–just watch that basket real close.”

Just an update or perhaps clarification on how soon you, as an owner, will receive your rent payment.

At Crager-Bartels our process is to pay ten days after we receive money from the current tenant.  Understand that while many tenants are scheduled to pay on the 1st, some are the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 10th, 15th, etc…  This of course changes when you receive your funds as well.

The reason for the 10 day turn around is for processing on our end as well as confirmation that all checks clear as they should.  Other management companies in town may hold 30 days or 30+10 for processing time, while we strive to get you your funds asap.

There are times when a tenant pays late to us which will also change the date we transfer the money to you.  Understand though that we do no accept this as common practice from the tenant in question and we have protocols in place to handle this properly.

Finally, one other item that may affect payment to you would be holidays where the American banking system is shut down which will add 1-2 days transaction time depending on the holiday and which day of the week it falls.

Bottom line, we are here to support you.  If you have any questions give us a call.

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This is the first post for our new Indy Rental News for Investor.  If you can read this–your just right.

The Crager-Bartels Real Estate Team looks forward to a positive flow of communication and this blog is our solution to keep you informed on the rental environment in the Indianapolis Indiana area.  This perspective will be slanted toward the real estate investor which includes our current client base.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns give Derek Crager a call at 317.796.9825