Eagle Point Capital

With a population of almost 800,000 people, Indianapolis ranks as the 12th largest city in the U.S., and is the capital of Indiana. It has a variety of cultural activities and an assortment of entertainment choices. Indianapolis is an ideal place to live, and is a great place to invest in real estate. With its low cost of living, Indianapolis was ranked the #1 most affordable place to own real estate by Forbes Magazine.

Indianapolis has a rich variety of areas and neighborhoods. The most popular ones include:

• Meridian-Kessler
• Broad Ripple Village
• Lockerbie Square
• Butler-Tarkington

For more information on the neighborhoods of Indianapolis, visit Indyindiana.com.

Indianapolis also has an assortment of entertainment choices and venues:

Sports

Indianapolis is filled with loyal sports fans. No matter what sport you follow, there is a team for you to cheer on!

• Go see the Colts play in the beautiful new Lucas Oil Stadium.
• For the baseball lovers out there, Victory Field is a fun, family-oriented place to watch the Indians. Spread out on the lawn with a blanket and a picnic, and watch the game from the outfield.
• Indiana is known for being crazy about basketball, so of course we have the Indianapolis Pacers to see at Conseco Fieldhouse.
• Indianapolis is the Racing Capital of the World, and is home to the annual Indianapolis 500, held at the Motor Speedway.

Concerts

Going to concerts and seeing live music is one of my favorite things to do. There are a variety of places to go see live music, plays, performances, and musicals.

• The Lawn at White River State Park
• Verizon Wireless Music Center
• Murat Theater
• Beer Garden at The Rathskeller
• The Vogue in Broad Ripple Village

In addition to the endless venues for sports and music, you will find a variety of bars/restaurants, comedy clubs, and shops. Mass Ave is a great street with lots of culture, art, and places to eat.

Indianapolis: The "Crossroads of America"

Being in the heart of the Midwest, Indianapolis carries the nickname "Crossroads of America." It has one of the best highway systems in the nation. The average commute time in the metro area is no more than 30 min. It is also an ideal city for those who love to travel; Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Louisville, St. Louis, and Cleveland, are at most a 5 hour drive away.

For investors: multiple exit strategies!

In addition to the low cost and abundance of homes available in Indianapolis, investors can enjoy multiple exit strategies when purchasing an investment home. If you buy in bulk, you can break up the package and wholesale to homeowners or other investors. You can also re-sell the entire package. If you like fix and flips, there are plenty of rehab houses and foreclosures to go around. Buying a home to occupy yourself is always an option as well. Read about the different neighborhoods and pick one that best suits you!

The easiest option is to buy and hold. Renting is very common in Indianapolis, with about 38% of homes being rented. Especially near Broad Ripple Village and the Butler University campus, you can easily find young college students and grads looking to rent.

We Love Indy!

Indianapolis is a great place to live, and also to invest. It is the lowest-risk market in the Midwest, and one of the best markets to buy in the nation. With the ideal cost of living and the multitude of cultural activities around the city, Indianapolis is a desirable place to own real estate. We do!

Facebook launched the popularity of social networking sites. While a growing number of companies use Facebook, among other social websites, it started out as a college-only network.

For Play:
In the beginning, signing up on Facebook required a university-issued email address. Students could interact with their friends from home, or even with their friends down the hallway in their own dorm. It was used for fun, to post photos of weekend parties, update everyone on what you were doing (A friend of mine would post in her "status" that she was studying at the library. In reality, she was napping in her dorm room and didn't want people bothering her.), and write funny comments on other people's "wall." It soon became addicting, and was a fun way to spend your study breaks.

The instant popularity was evident. My friends in sororities were ordered to De-activate their Facebook account during recruitment, I guess so that whatever was posted on their profiles wouldn't influence the new girls trying to join. That indicated the social presence of Facebook, and the mass majority of students that had joined. It was just assumed that you were on Facebook.

It was soon opened to high-school students as well, and shortly after that, anyone was able to join. Even teachers and parents began to join the Facebook craze.

The Shift:
People began to realize that posting pictures of themselves out partying with their friends may not be the image they want to put out there for future employers. Companies began using Facebook to their advantage, probably for the first time, by looking at profiles of their job applicants. (I've heard stories of companies not hiring a candidate after seeing their crazy party habits on Facebook). Students were advised not to post incriminating photos of themselves out drinking, or to take off their profiles all-together when it was time to send out their resumes. (Make sure you have the right privacy settings, and this shouldn't be too much of a problem.)

Many companies have banned access to Facebook on office computers; they see it as a waist of time and productivity. Yes, it can be used for personal use, but they are not recognizing it as a valuable communication tool. Read this article on "How to Address Facebook in the Workplace."

For Work:
Some companies and industries, however, have utilized Facebook and other social networks as a communication tool. An increasing amount of websites I've visited have included links to their Facebook profiles, or ask me to "follow" them on Twitter. The real estate industry especially, seems to have jumped on board using online social networks; in addition to Facebook there are handfuls of online networks specifically used to share real estate information.

With all the sites available, real estate professionals can connect to millions of real estate buyers, sellers, Realtors, investors, property managers, etc. Facebook now has multiple real estate groups to join. While Facebook isn't specific to real estate, it probably has the broadest audience, and can be used to reach those that might not think to join a real estate network.

No matter what industry you're in, you can create a company page to provide info about your company, complete with an event calendar, videos, photos, discussion boards, and more.

Work AND Play:
It is pretty clear that Facebook can now be used for both work AND play. Companies are using Facebook, along with other social networking sites, to their advantage to communicate and get the word out about what they do and what they can offer their online audience. Sharing info online is fast and convenient, and I don't think it's a trend.

If you haven't joined yet, visit Facebook now and create your profile!

Do it yourself?

A lot of people choose to manage their investment properties themselves. Especially in this economy, I can understand the idea of saving money by taking care of the maintenance on your rental properties, or managing the rehab on a fix and flip, on your own. But the truth is, the more properties you acquire, or if you invest out-of-state, doing these things yourself will cost you a much more valuable asset; your time. Managing tenant issues, repairs, rent collection, etc., can be very time consuming, and can sometimes require more experienced professionals.

Hire Property Management?

Finding an experienced property management company or team can be very beneficial, and can free up your time to concentrate on finding more deals, while giving you piece of mind that your properties are being taken care of. You may simply have too many properties to handle all by yourself, or you invest out-of-state and cannot always physically be in town to take care of repairs/maintenance.
Before choosing a property management team, make sure you do your research to find one you can really trust, and who has the experience necessary to handle your properties. Ask others who they have used, check references, and interview the company/team before choosing to work with them. Read Joshua Dorkin's blog post on "Things to Consider when Interviewing Property Management Companies."

Who we use:

Eagle Point Capital mainly invests in Indianapolis, IN, and we've been working with Secure Property Group. Not only do they manage our rentals, they help us manage the construction on our rehab properties. They have been very helpful to our out-of-state clients as well. If you are investing in Indianapolis, I would recommend looking into Secure Property Group. With 10 plus years of experience, they are trustworthy and professional.

Opportunities

Buying in bulk is a great investment opportunity. Buyers can enjoy substantial discounts, among a number of other benefits. Buying in bulk typically involves buying properties across multiple states, as well as multiple cities within a given state. Risk is spread through numerous properties; a loss an any one property is offset by gains on another.

There are many exit strategies to take after purchasing in bulk. The whole package can be re-sold to another investor, or broken into smaller packages and resold to multiple investors. The properties can also be rehabilitated and rented for monthly cash-flow, or sold to owner occupiers with long-term financing.

Considerations

Bulk buying is not without its challenges. Most bulk buying is done with very little due diligence, or none at all, and often no title insurance. It is also subject to outstanding tax and other liens (including utilities in some jurisdictions). Sometimes properties have outstanding housing code violations or are even condemned. Buyers of bulk REO must be ready and willing to deal with the complexities of selling and managing properties across several different locations.


Our Bulk REO Program

We offer our investors the opportunity to buy both small and large bulk REO packages. Our program can be customized to meet each individual investor's needs. We help institutional sellers, and other large inventory holders of REO notes, expose their non-performing assets to qualified buyers. After doing our own research on a package, we buy the bulk properties and present them to both regional and national buyers who are interested in creating their own customized package.

What is a self-directed IRA?

A self-directed IRA allows you to use your retirement fund to invest in such things as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, but also less traditional investments, like real estate, mortgages/deeds of trust, private placements, tax liens, and other private placements and limited partnerships. It is a common belief that you can only hold CD’s, stocks, bonds, and mutual funds in your IRA. Many don't realize that there are other options. Really, the only two things that are off-limits are collectibles and life insurance, according to IRS rules. As the name suggests, it is simply an IRA account that allows you to manage your own investments, as well as choose the investments you purchase.


Buying real estate

Self-directed IRAs are also known as Real Estate IRAs when used to buy real estate. The real estate you purchase with your IRA must be treated strictly as an investment. You cannot use the property owned by your IRA for personal use, for example, a vacation home, office space, or your residence. This is because the purpose of your IRA is to provide for your retirement in the future, not to benefit you now. Also, real estate property that you already own cannot be placed into your IRA. Your spouse, your parents, or your children also couldn’t have owned the property before it was purchased by your IRA. Property owned by siblings may be allowed, since the Internal Revenue Code (section 4975) specifies that only “lineal descendants” be disqualified.

Even though real estate held by your IRA cannot be used for immediate personal benefit, the tax deductions are too great to pass up. An IRA is simply a tax-advantaged container for your investments. The profits made from your real estate investments are tax-free, as long as those investments are held by your self-directed IRA.

Setting up a self-directed IRA

The first thing you need to do is find a custodian, or bank, that will allow you to invest in real estate. Some custodians will not let you invest outside the stock market, so do your research and find out exactly what they offer with their self-directed IRAs.

Once you select one, set up a self-directed IRA with your IRA custodian. Finance the self-directed IRA account with funds, or transfer money from either a previously held retirement account or one that an employer is currently funding.

A qualified trustee or your custodian must hold the IRA assets on behalf of the IRA owner. Another option is to set up an IRA LLC. The account holder can then direct the IRA custodian to invest in the LLC, which can be managed by the account holder without the involvement of the custodian. The profits of the LLC are passed on to the IRA with nearly identical tax-favorable treatment.

Overview

Using self-directed IRAs, or Real Estate IRAs, to purchase real estate is one of the best ways to add to your IRA portfolio and to save for your future. With cash-flow and appreciation, real estate has a potential higher rate of return that can accelerate the value of your IRA. Although you cannot use the profits immediately, the profits you make from these IRA investments have huge tax benefits. So find a bank that fits your needs and set up a self-directed IRA ASAP! We recommend it!



Sources: Dax Desai.com, www.daxdesai.com; eHow.com, www.ehow.com; Realtor Magazine, www.realtor.org; Safeguard Financial, www.ira123.com; Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org.

Hello everyone! Lot's of changes have been happening here at Eagle Point Capital, and we wanted to share them with you!

Website & Blog
Our website is up and running, where you can view a few of our investment opportunities. If you sign up on the site, you will have access to even more property deals, documents, and you will receive $500 off the rehab costs on your 1st purchase with us. In addition to the website, we have a new and improved look for Eagle Point Capital's blog. If you were following our old one, please take note! Our new blog address is http://eaglepointcapital.blogspot.com/
We will provide you with relevant and useful information on the Indianapolis market, Bulk REOs, and upcoming property deals at Eagle Point Capital.

Property Management
We have recently partnered up with Secure Property Group, a professional property management company. Their team is here to manage your properties for you. This service is perfect for the out-of-state investor, who can not physically be here to manage their investment properties.

Bulk REO Program
Bulk REO is a division of Eagle Point Capital and one of our specialties. Our program can be customized to meet each investor's individual needs. Bulk buyers have the opportunity to purchase either small or large bulk packages. We acquire our bulk inventory directly from reputable institutional sellers. We allow these bulk packages to be presented to both regional and national buyers who are interested in creating their own customized package. A future blog post will cover the ins and outs of bulk buying, so stay tuned!

Get Added to Our Investors List
Once you sign up on the website, you will be added to our investor list. Once we get to know more about what you're looking for, we will keep you in mind when we come across inventory that fits your needs and criteria. Get signed up today so we can start providing you with smart investment opportunities!

Our Mission
Eagle Point Capital is here to help you build your wealth through Real Estate. Whether you are a seasoned investor or just starting out, our goal is to provide you with properties that fit your investment needs. Our specialties are Indianapolis investments and Bulk REOs; we plan to provide investors with the knowledge about both, to help make informed decisions about the investment properties we have to offer.
We hope you join us in building wealth through Real Estate. That's what every investor aims for, and we want to help you along the way.