All Forum Posts by: Andrew Fidler

@Michelle Fenn - I am 100% Toledo, don't have any experience in Cleveland. I followed the same pattern exiting 40 C-grade properties for half as many B-grade plus cash left over to buy and renovate our real estate office and build a dream home on the footprint of our 100+ yr old farmhouse (on LaPlante Rd of course).

So yeah, where I live full time...tear down and build something amazing. Dig a hole and put the ~$50k house value in and cover it over. 

Investments? Buy for quality and be comfortable picking up properties with old peeling paint wooden siding and pricing the purchase to include installing vinyl siding and new windows.

I keep a portfolio and am actively buying, deals are back now that home owners are out while interest rates are high.

I've been in this business 16 yrs and it's always with the fear of city ordinances putting new regulations on us with and the sky falling. The sky hasn't fallen yet, and I imagine similar conversations 100yrs ago when landlords back in the day were panicking over city code for electrical, fire, sewer and banning dirt floors.

If we get a challenging ordinance, then the market will adapt. If investors flee that market, anyone who can thrive will make a killing.

All depends on your cash position, the team you align yourself with, and your personal tolerance for seeing through panic from the general public and news media.

It's the reason I'm licensed through out Ohio but only invest and property manage in a 20 mile circle...I'm the best in my niche and am happy to facilitate others to grow along side me and mine.

You liquidated out of Cleveland...if you want to hear a bit about my town - Toledo - reach out! :)

I happen to be partial to them :) 

Property management is our core business and Toledo our only market. Most of our team are investors with our own properties. 

As the owner and broker of LaPlante I also participate in our management daily…today was gaining entry for a new owner whose resident was hostile and resisting repairs and providing access. 

Friday we began Managment, Monday we posted a 24-hour notice to enter and today we appeared with a drill and new locks to upgrade theirs if they didn’t wish to share a key. Entry was made, residence inspected and while the resident is headed to vacate we have a professional, productive dialogue. 

Property management is the most interesting job in the world if you like to be able to share amazing stories!

Happy to chat further about why Toledo is where we live, manage, and invest. 

@Matt Hassett - I have seen several properties sell with lead orders attached to them but this is the first I’ve heard of one being sold without disclosure. 

I would start with your buying agent and the selling agent…make sure the brokers know sh*t just got real. Both parties should disclose if they had any details on the situation.  

Is there a property manager involved? Another one to seek information from. 

How did the seller register their property with Lucas County Rental Registry (that is another involved party). 

Lastly the health dept can tell you who they mailed letters to and when, what emails were received and when…hopefully call logs as well. 

If you can connect the seller to the lead abatement order then you can involve an attorney and perhaps the Ohio Division of Real Estate. 

Mind you we recently had a client whose LLC mailing address we never updated so their property tax invoices went unanswered meaning the inevitable late fees and foreclosure sheriff sale was missed as well. The owner learned of their error when the winner of the sheriff auction communicated with my property management company for us to remove our lockbox from the property.

I’m not excusing anything just saying it’s not impossible for a property owner to be blind. I would let the attorney advise your steps but definitely sounds like you have a case. 

Reach out if you want an attorney reference. 

Also, I have an Ohio Lead Abatement Contractor’s license so I am happy to read the rather long abatement order with you to see how expensive this may be. They range from $2-$20k in scope commonly. 

Never boring in real estate!

@Zack Whiting - You are in a top tier market for investment properties!

I've been buying and renting here since 2009, the deals are hard to find these days but definitely out there!

BP is a great community, a wealth of knowledge up here!

Hello Tammy, welcome to BP!

I am pretty experienced with S8 procedures, all of that experience is with our Toledo LMH team.

Are you leasing with a property manager in town? They should know the process super well and have their own contacts with leaders and managers to be able to ensure things run smoothly.

There is a weekly open-office time for residents to be able to sit down with their case manager (I think it's Weds, but I haven't seen the time printed out recently so it may have changed. Every voicemail in LMH seems to detail when this time is however!).

The experience of the housing provider is going to be the real challenge to getting you a set of keys to move in with...they have to qualify, pass inspection, sign a bunch of paperwork, and finally lease up and send everything into LMH. 

Reach out to us here if you need more assistance!

@Jonah Slove

I peaked at around 40 properties in 43608.

I have 1 final property as of the writing of this post and the property is under contract to close this week.

So, the best answer I can give it the zip code served its purpose to create income and appreciation for a decade. Factor that with a total-loss fire, half a dozen insurance claims for smaller fires, easily a hundred evictions, a thousand months of uncollected rent, and a shooting in 2010 that is as close to wearing handcuffs as I desire.

If you live in Toledo and are ready to holster up and manage your own portfolio then 43608 has some real potential. 

If you are an out of town investor then I fear investments in this neighborhood (and those like it, Toledo has several) will result in an overall portfolio with higher-than expected wear-and-tear, lower resident financial stability directly translating to shorter times between re-leasing events, and I am curious how much higher the values can go (From $60k pre-2009 to $8k when I bough and I am now steadily see $60k listings again...even a $90k one!).

43608 (and the similar single-digit zip codes) fall into the 80/20 rule...stay out of 80% of them and the quality changes with every block. Locals have to drive the neighborhood in order to stay current on the changes and truly it seems that you have to own something profitable before you will go against the norm and buy more. (On Maple Street only about 3 blocks long I owned 12 houses...once I bought into the street I found value and became known as a cash buyer who maintained their properties so my phone rang and I shook hands on the street to keep it ringing.)

Always check ARIES the Lucas County Auditor site. If you are lucky you are buying a mom-and-pop landlord property that has been owned and operated for a long time. If you are not then you will see a ~$10k foreclosure sale, a resale less than a year later to an unwitting out of state investor for $50k, and the current attempt to sell it for $58k to get the current poor bastard out of the deal and cover the cost of the sale.

Be very wary of becoming the next guy holding the hot potato when the economic music stops...I see rent rates have stopped rising and our local MLS shows an increasing number of days on market so I feel the music is slowing.

Hope this helps!

@Jonah Slove - just sent you a pm. Happy to discuss Toledo anytime! 

Since this article I still see opportunity in the market and am still buying myself. 

@Dave Poeppelmeier is my go to guy for 43607. 

 I'm still buying, hell I am still filing tax value appeals so they are below the friggin value there. 

You can find the deals, just have to be connected to the locals and walk into those units reeking of cat piss and say "Smell's like a deal, baby".