? on Real estate market in Indiana (Muncie, Winchester: section 8, renters, to buy)

[gypsychic]

Hi all! I hope you can give me some thoughts on the status of the RE market in Indiana right now. Here is the situation: My husband's parents are in their 80's and live in Muncie. They own a number of rental properties in the nearby small town of Winchester. It is becoming increasingly difficult for them to maintain these properties, not to mention the hassle of dealing with problem renters and we are trying to convince them to go ahead and put them up on the market. They are thinking they need to wait "until the market gets better", but it is our opinion it is not going to change that much for a good while, and in the meantime their health and stamina is going down. They were all bought cheap, I imagine they are only worth what they paid for them, if that.

Any thoughts or advice? Are they right about waiting? Or what good arguments could we use to help convince them? I'm thinking interest rates may be going up before long, which to me would be a reason to sell now.

[richb]

They can get a property management company if they don't think they can (or want to) sell or maintain their rentals. Then they don't lose all the income they give up by selling.

[indy_317]

I don't see things getting better at all. Our entire means of government has been borrow and spend by issuing bonds. Most governments are broke, and taxes are at a breaking point. While income taxes may be lower than in the past, all we have seen locally is taxes go up: Property, food and beverage, sales, wheel taxes.

I don't see much bright light for smaller Indiana cities located in more rural areas. Are your in-laws getting Section 8 for any of the property? If so, what %? Right now, in some of these areas, Section 8 might be the only thing worth taking. Some will say that Section 8 renters are horrible in terms of being dirty/trashy, but with current wages vs. rents and housing costs, more and more working two family parents aren't going to be able to afford housing. So either housing has to crash, or rent/house costs have to crash.

If I were them, I would take the money and run. I don't see how anyone wants to be a renter. If your renters stop paying, then you got to evict them, and if you evict them, they may trash the property. What does it matter if you sue them to recoup the damage to the property, they likely don't have any money. Even if you get a garnishment order, it could take years before you are made whole.

[sweetana3]

Personally, at their age, I would be trying to clean up the estate and dispose of assets like these rather than leave the headaches to the spouse left or the beneficiaries. The problem in these smaller towns is that even with historic low interest rates, no one has the income or the stable job to buy the smaller edge properties.

Tell them not to stress out over getting top dollar but to consider the value of cleaning up their estate for future generations and to have the funds now for their use.