Newbie Looking To Purchase 1st Property In Cleveland

[Chris Sean]

Good evening all. I'm looking to purchase my 1st rental property, preferably in Cleveland even though I live out of state. I'm not necessarily looking for steady growth in equity, my focus is to buy, hold and build a strong base of residual rental income. I figured multi-family properties would make more sense because in the event of a vacancy the other unit/s could prevent me from coming out pocket monthly. As you can imagine, with this being my 1st purchase I'm trying to make the smartest decision possible so ALL FEEDBACK AND EXPERTISE is welcomed. Thanks in advance.

What neighborhoods are ideal for multi-family renting?

What neighborhoods should I avoid?

Are there any area banks that will finance sub 50k properties?

If not can you recommend any other funding sources?

Can you recommend any property mgmt companies and contractors?

Is it realistic to try to oversee a potential rehab long distance?

[Matt Motil]

Hi @Chris Sean, welcome to #theland 

The cool thing about investing in CLE is that the Indians are on their way to the world series and the Cavs won the title this past fall. You can be a legit fan if you own property here. 

The Cleveland market is broad - so you'll need to focus on specific areas that make sense for what kind of investing you're looking to do.

Cleveland Market Analysis

Here is a link to get you more information on the area, schools, crime, etc. Some zip codes to check out would be 44135, 44144, 44111, 44105, 44102, 44126, 44129, 44134, & 44107. Those tend to be the most popular with investors.

There are lenders that will do sub 50k loans, like @Jerry Padilla, but honestly, unless you're looking at single families in Cleveland, you won't be happy with what you can get for under 50k. 

For property management, the company I'm with, Keller Williams has a strong property management division. We manage about 600 units.

@James Wise at Holton-Wise Property Group also manages a large portfolio of properties in the 500-600 unit range. Additionally, @Bob Collett manages in the area and all three come highly recommended by their respective clients. 

For contractors, I like @Neal Mahoney at Cloverleaf Drywall and Construction. They do excellent work and are very responsive. Neal has done a number of projects for me recently and I highly recommend him. 

Lastly, most PM's will be your project manager for your rehabs if you choose to do something long-distance. Most will not want to take on huge projects, but if you buy something that needs some cosmetic upgrades and updates, this isn't a big deal.