North Collinwood, Ohio

[Agbolade Adesoye]

Hi, I'm looking to purchase investment property in North Collinwood, Ohio. I'm from Chicago and i'm not familiar with Ohio. Is there anyone who is from Ohio or knows people in Ohio whom can tell me a little bit about this area. My goal is just to figure out if this will be a profitable investment

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Agbolade Adesoye:

Hi, I'm looking to purchase investment property in North Collinwood, Ohio. I'm from Chicago and i'm not familiar with Ohio. Is there anyone who is from Ohio or knows people in Ohio whom can tell me a little bit about this area. My goal is just to figure out if this will be a profitable investment

 That's a very low quality neighborhood. I think you would do better investing in a more stable neighborhood. Ya see we like to grade neighborhoods here. A-F. To see where North Collinwood lands on that grading scale take a look at The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods.

Myself I am big on Garfield Heights, Euclid, Lakewood & Parma. Those are probably my favorite Cleveland area neighborhoods to operate in right now. Risk is low when compared to potential reward in those areas.

On top of that as you are out of state some more advice for you that is not Cleveland market specific is that it's not really that complicated to buy out of state. It only becomes complicated when investors try to over complicate or over think everything. Whenever you are buying a property out of state you should do a few things to ensure it's as smooth as possible.

• Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core. Pick a solid B-Class suburban area. Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.
• Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home. The reports are 40-90 pages long and go through the entire house in great detail.
• Get an appraisal. If your using financing the bank requires this. This is good. The bank isn't going to let you blow their money. They have more skin in the game then you do.
• Make sure you get clear title. If using a lender this is a non issue. They will make you do this. It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.
• Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.
• Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it. If you are risk adverse real estate, (especially out of state) is not for you.