T&H Realty Services Blog

If you’ve been on BiggerPockets recently, or are involved in REI at any capacity, you’ve more than likely heard about this trending investment term.

It’s known as BRRRR.

When I first saw the term, I wasn't sure what to think. 

I'd receive emails with subjects that said, "Check out this BRRRR deal!"

Did it mean a really, really cool deal?

Didn't make sense to me.  

After some quick investigation, I learned BRRR was actually an acronym that stands for: Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat.

Brandon Turner, VP of Growth at BiggerPockets, coined this catchy, new term.

Now, there’s nothing new about this strategy. It’s sort of just a hybrid between “Buy and Hold” and “Fix and Flip”.

In fact, even though we didn’t use the term BRRRR back then, this is exactly how my business partner and I got started back in the early 2000s.

So, what exactly is this method, and why has it become so wildly popular?

If you weren’t aware, the Marion County Tax sale just took place this past week in Indianapolis.

**Note: This blog was updated on February 15th, 2019, to reflect new changes to the Sheriff Sale.**

This is a topic I’m shocked has taken us so long to blog about.

We’ve been attending the Marion County Sheriff Sale since 2005.

And - wow - do we have stories to tell.

Lot’s of them, which we may decide to do in future blogs.

But, to start, I thought I would use this blog to discuss the basics of the Marion County Sheriff Sale.

Sort of a “Marion County Sheriff Sale for Dummies” blog.

Note: I’m obviously not a lawyer, not an expert on foreclosures, so I’ll provide a VERY basic overview of the process.

We’ve been inundated with calls over the past several weeks from investors who share a similar story.

The conversation goes something like this.

“I need help. I own a few properties in Indianapolis and I haven’t received rent in (fill in the blank) months. No one is returning my calls. I feel like I’ve been scammed.”

For the most part, these homes are located in some of the worst areas of Indianapolis. I’ve used this illustration in the past to describe it best… picture the worst parts of Indianapolis and then picture the worst homes inside those neighborhoods.

Generally, those are the homes we’re discussing.

And inevitably, as we further discuss things with the investor, we learn that they were using Oceanpointe to manage their homes.

Vacancies present quite a challenge to Real Estate investors.

And in spite of your best efforts, vacancy is inevitable. No matter how good of a Landlord you are, Tenants are eventually going to move. And when they do, it's critical to minimize that vacancy as much as possible.

Tenant turnover is a big expense for many Landlords in the first place. And if you can't get the property re-rented in a reasonable amount of time, lost rents, cleaning costs, maintenance and advertising will compound the Vacancy Effect.  

In a previous blog we discussed ways to increase Tenant retention, and today we are going to share some ways you can reduce down time between Tenants.

Security Deposits are extremely important. 

Important to you as the Landlord, and important to your Tenant, because it's their money... until it isn't.

In fact, my guess is if you polled Property Management Companies around the country, the majority would say Security Deposits generate the most friction in their businesses. 

So, you need to have strong processes around Security Deposits, understand your state and local laws and still be prepared for some battles along the way.

Today, we thought we would discuss best practices concerning Security Deposit and provide some additional insight into how Indiana operates (or fails to operate, in some cases).