Made over a 40% Return on my Cleveland Duplex

[Claudia Buchegger]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $120,000
Cash invested: $70,000
Sale price: $195,000

I bought a duplex in Cleveland with my sister in 2023 for a purchase price of $120,000 and we sold it in 2025 for $195,000. We made a 40% return on our money after all expenses and cash flow. It was a great learning experience but I decided to sell it in 2025 because I believe in Columbus as a growing and thriving city and would rather focus my efforts on Columbus rather than Cleveland.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

This was the first property I ever bought and I learned a great deal from it. I wanted to buy a cheap property as my 1st investment so I would not be afraid to make mistakes and could learn as much as possible.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I was living in California when I bought this property and had to rely on a realtor in Cleveland, which he ended up lying to me about several things that I realized after closing when I visited the property myself. It motivated me to get my real estate license in Ohio so I never had to deal with a dishonest realtor again and could negotiate/represent myself and others. I found this deal myself on the MLS after analyzing 900 properties in Cleveland and realizing that this duplex was undervalued.

How did you add value to the deal?

I made some minor improvements to increase the value far beyond what I put into it. The duplex had opportunity for a value increase.

What was the outcome?

I sold the duplex after 1.5 years and made over a 40% return.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I learned tons of lessons:
- There are some dishonest realtors out there, do your due diligence when finding a team of people to trust
- It is worth it to take risks and make mistakes, but learn from them
- You can make a lot of mistakes with a property but still sell it at a big profit and make a good return
- Do not trust photos to accurately represent the condition of a property
- Choose tenants wisely, determines your experience

[V.G Jason]

Which realtor lied to you, are they on these forums?