Why is Indianapolis such a Great City to Invest in for Real Estate? (2024)

It’s no secret that Indianapolis, Indiana is a growing city with many great things occurring and the stats to prove it. I learned about Indy while living in Austin years ago when I was priced out of buying investment properties there. My dream of financial independence through real estate investing is what led me to Indy. I decided to continue growing my real estate portfolio by purchasing investment properties in the up and coming city of Indianapolis. I had such great luck and saw promising returns that I ended up moving here to help build my mini real estate empire.

I haven’t even been living here for a whole year yet and I already know it was one of the best decisions my wife and I could have made. The cost of living here is much better compared to where we came from in Austin and we have already purchased 3 more rental properties in the short time we have been here. We now have 6 houses in Indy including our primary house and my monthly cash flow is now in the $3k+ rangesoon to be in the $4k range. Below I will tell you why Indianapolis is such a great city to invest in real estate.

What is All the Hype about in Indy?

Indy has had a steadily increasing population and economy for years now and it does not look like this trend will stop anytime soon. I have been compiling all these stats and recent articles that will give you a better understanding of what is going on here. These are all recent stats/articles from 2017.

Economy/Job Related

• Indiana is leading the midwest with the lowest unemployment rate.
• The tech industry is only just starting to take off. Even the CEO of Salesforce Marketing Cloud thinks Indy is “the best kept secret in the country“. Salesforce now has a tower right here in downtown Indy. One of four total towers that they have and the others are in NY, San Fran and London. This should tell you a lot about what is going on here and the potential it has.
• According to Forbes, Indy is listed at the #5 top city for tech jobs as its paving the way for creating new tech jobs in 2017.
• Indy has ranked #9 in the nation for Best Small Business Cities in America in 2017.
• Indianapolis is ranked #4 for Best Cities for Women in Tech 2017. Are you seeing the trend here with the technical industry? Tech jobs are the way of the future and it seems where the tech is at is where the money flows!

Transportation

• There is a massive project that will soon be underway that will drastically improve the transportation in Indy. A $50 million dollar grant has been given to Indy to help build the Rapid Bus Transit Line. Transportation changes like this have been known to increase property values and make cities more desirable to live in.
• Indianapolis has been named the “most improved” bike friendly city in 2017. Riding bikes around Indy is something you must do. It really is a super bike friendly city. My wife and I bike all the time through downtown and we are in love with theIndianapolis cultural trail.

Sports

• I am a huge sports fan and can not get over how many sports teams there are here. For professional sports there is an NFL, NBA and WNBA teams. For minor league sports we have hockey, baseball and soccer. The soccer team has already made a bid to become a professional team on the MLS. Hopefully they will be approved which will give us another professional sport. And not to mention college sports. Butler Basketball is right here in Indy and there are yearly NCAA tournaments held here.
• Obviously I don’t even have to mention that this is the racing capital of the nation. I have already been to the Indy500 and the Grand Prix and it was amazing!! There are so many races and cool events held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Downtown Growth

• Downtown Indianapolis is already a bustling, clean and beautiful place and the city has zero plans on stopping the growth. There are numerous projects and on going construction that will continue changing the downtown scene as we know it for the better.
• Downtown living as you may already know is making a huge comeback in the United States and Realtor.com has recognized Indy for being one of the top 10 cities where downtown is making a comeback.

Real Estate/Living

• Indy has been labeled the best city for renters by Forbes. Thanks to lower average monthly rents and high levels of affordability. For now at least!!
• Did you know that Indiana is one of the only states where renter’s can actually deduct rent paid? Its crazy I know but this part of the reason why Indy is a great place to be a tenant. Which is great for us landlords!
• Ranked #5 for top cities where you can live really well on a $60k salary.
• We have our own HGTV flipping show that is helping shine a national spotlight on indy. Thanks to Two Chicks and a Hammer with their Good Bones tv show.
• See all current homes for sale in Indianapolis.

Travel/Tourism

• Indy has shattered expectations and was listed as one of the top 50 best places to travel in 2017 by Travel and Leisure.
• Indy has had 4 record years of record tourism. People are coming here and they are loving it!
• Conde Nest Traveler has recognized Indy as a top city to watch in 2017

So what does all this mean for you the investor?

Well quite simply said, you better start buying as much real estate as you can here while it’s still affordable. It’s clear to me that all these changes and witnessing them as I live here now are all the same things I saw happen in Austin, TX. I lived in Austin for 14 years before I moved to Indy. Now I prefer not to compare Indy to Austin but what I can tell you is that what I saw happen in Austin all those years I lived there is exactly what I am seeing happening here in Indy today. And for those of you do not know about what happened in Austin, lets just say that it is way over populated now and the real estate prices are absurd. Not necessarily a bad thing, but imagine if you knew what was going to happen in Austin years ago. You would probably be a stinkin’ millionaire by now. 😉

Is Indy the next Austin? I don’t know for sure but if it’s going to be then I want to be on that train when it takes off. As for me, I will continue to keep buying investment properties here in Indy while I still can. At some point as the real estate prices get higher I will eventually stop purchasing because the numbers just wont make sense to me anymore. But right now, they make perfect sense!