BiggerPockets Lied to You. And Here's Why.

Are Investment Trusts Really Buying Up All the Real Estate in Indianapolis?

Like you, many well-intentioned folks have spooked me into believing Wall Street is buying up all the housing in my city. They point to neighborhoods (of which I still don’t know a single tangible example in Indy) in which a BlackRock or other entity bought up all the homes, to raise the appraised values and artificially restrict supply.

The shocking truth is that collectively institutional investors like BlackRock or other REIT’s own ~6% of the Single Family Homes nationally. Most of these are located in the Sunbelt markets.

Now, that’s still millions of homes, so I don’t want to downplay it. However, in my market of Indianapolis I can only name 1-2 townships that have had this happen in their neighborhood.

In fact, I would argue the Biggerpockets effect, as I’m coining it, inspiring millions to take their hard-earned savings or IRA’s and put it to use in real estate single family homes, is having a much larger effect in Indianapolis.

So, has the mom & pop BiggerPockets rage been a success?

In short, no.

To tell you the truth:
I borderline despise BiggerPockets at this point. Most of their stuff is worthless when it comes down to specific, subject matter expertise on a particular Market. I talked to David Greene in March of 2024, we agreed on much. He even derided his long famous BRRRR methodology which absolutely has no shot of working in 2025.

Crazy statement from an investor-friendly realtor. But hey, I care more about intellectual honesty than I do trying to sell some sh*tty rental to you, now at least 😅.

The average, run-of-the-mill OOS investor has had No Success investing in my market of Indianapolis.

Here’s why:

• No Community Buy-in or Specific Knowledge about the area (You have heard Indy is “pockety” but you don’t know anything on specific pockets outside of second-hand knowledge)

• Underestimating the cost of Repairs, Maintenance, and Vacancy (Hint: It’s much higher than your 5% Pro forma number)

• A lack of Perseverance and Selling too Quickly (Impulse, Fear-driven)

• Investing for Profit versus to Providing Clean, Safe Housing for a real person (Lack of a Real Why)

• You had No Money (Bought when rates were artificially low, and now you’re Broke)

Cool, Tyler, I get it… What are you saying I should do?

Here’s some hard-learned Tips I’ll leave you with:

1. Actually visit and stay in the city you are investing in. Hell, maybe even move here. Nick Giulioni did it, and has had massive success and a cute house in Carmel, IN now!

2. Have Safety Reserves and only invest in deals with Margin-of-Safety, as Warren Buffet calls it. (Your Pro Forma is an illusion, real life is never like the models)

3. Use a Competent advisor. We are Roots are all actual investors and are running the streets every day. (You used your closest acquaintance realtor that specializes in Carmel Homes not the Streets of Indy. Did you expect they’d advise you well?)

4. Build a true, trusted network. I see folks come back 5-10 times to our events. Now, they’re starting to get it. They see between the lines. They know what to watch out for, they have lines of help when they get in trouble.

5. Lastly, importantly, maybe DON’T invest in real estate. Most should not. Maybe you need to do private note investing? Maybe you need to be a Limited-Capital Partner in an institutional investment for a safe 10% IRR? Maybe you need to partner with someone like me that can coordinate things on the ground while you stay quiet and specialize in your W2 area of expertise…? Just saying.

With that… On to our deals of the week! We got some juicy ones…

This Week’s Deals 🔥 — From New Castle Tudor to Beat-up Plainfield Ranch!

• 1119 S Main St., New Castle, IN

• Asking $249,900

• Great play for first home (just outside of Indy), higher end rental, or Airbnb

• Zillow Link 

• Click the link, seriously. Such a cute home. Iconic.

• 932-934 Leland St. — Irvington, Indianapolis

• Asking $160,000

• One side vacant, one side leased for $725

• Market rents $800+ / mo

• Zillow Link 

• I like the cash flow potential here. Good neighborhood too!

• 1414 Ingomar St. Indianapolis, IN 46241 (near Speedway)

• Asking $155,000

• 3 beds, 2 baths, 1084 sqft.

• Rent rate $1400 / mo

• Great for new investor or first time homeowner!

• This is a simple Buy & hold to get things rolling.

• 3534 Hunt St. Plainfield, IN

• Asking $165,000

• Cosmetics Needed Reno Project, est rehab around $20-25K

• ARV: $220-225,000

• Zillow Link 

• This is a great rehab project in a safe, good schools area of town! Love this one.

If you’re interested in any of the above deals (or to get your search started) email [email protected] 🤙 We also help sellers (duh).

New Internal Podcast

You learn a lot when you become an entrepreneur.

You learn that you generally suck at managing your time, get distracted too easily, and are a generally horrible at balancing Marriage, Fatherhood, and Business.

In this episode we address this distress.

These are the 6 habits that have leveled us up as Fathers, Leaders, Businessmen, Investors, and Faith-holders.

It’s 14 mins, I know you’ll enjoy it.

Also, while you’re at it slap that subscribe button, why don’t ya!

Consider Pressing Subscribe on the Podcast! It’s a simple way to support what we do and get plugged in. It takes 30 seconds…