Indy tops magazine polls for real estate investing - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS - Two publications rank Indianapolis as the number one place in the country for real estate investing.

You've heard of "rent to buy," but now a days, it's "buy to rent" in Indianapolis. On some streets, the number of homes for rent easily outnumber those for sale. Rentals are hot investments.

Money Magazine and Inman News, a real estate industry trade magazine, rate Indianapolis the nation's number one city for making money renting homes, touting a 300 percent return on a ten-year investment.

The figures almost sound unbelievable.

"I know, but it is believable," said Jeff Ader, Dorfman Property Management.

Dorfman Property Management manages 1,100 rental homes. Because the market is so good, the Indianapolis company recently started selling rental homes as investments.

"I see a lot of investors flocking from all over the U.S. to Indianapolis to buy rental properties we manage for them," Ader said.

He says those investors are shunning volatile and too often meager returns on stocks and bonds. The same economy that's put uncounted families out of their homes or prevented them from buying new homes are benefiting the rental home industry.

Job cuts and pay cuts along with mortgage companies demanding higher credit ratings and larger down payments are creating the demand for rentals.

"People can't buy homes that used to be able to buy homes, they have to rent them," Ader said.

Although other cities face the same economic problems, Indianapolis' modest and recently stable real estate prices, as well as property tax caps, experts say make investing here that much better.

Unfortunately, what's good for investors may not be so good for renters. The laws of supply and demand will, no doubt, make finding rental deals difficult.