All Forum Posts by: Andrew Weiner

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Stephon Richardson:

Hello,

We have a single family and a unit in a duplex in Cleveland that need work done. It has been extremely hard to find contractors that actually service the east side of Cleveland. Most of them never reply or simply say they don't go in that area. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! 

Thank you.

 In Cleveland it's next to impossible to get rental property renovation work done without going through one of the large property management companies in the area. This is going to be even further complicated by you having a property on the east side of Cleveland. It's gonna be slim pickens out there for you trying to self manage and rehab this one. 

There is more work than labor in the market right now and a big part of the 44120 is not a great place to be in. This creates a situation where contractors can choose to not take work there.  Also a lot of the people that work there are mom and pop shops that are very hard for long-distance owners to find and appropriately manage.  I know it’s not super helpful but possibly come out to the area and drive around and see if you can find crews working in the area at other houses and see if you can hire that way.  Also you can find crews at the local hardware stores, a lot of times the owners know the crews that have been around and seem to know what they are doing.  

It is completely possible that you would be looking at a early November court date.  

That does seem a little bit long in my experience but not impossible if there were a lot of filings recently. These get scheduled out on a first come first serve basis and you can just check the court docket to confirm.  
 

Your property manager is correct that if you accept any money from the time that you deliver the three day notice until the day of court that the eviction would be tossed out and you would have to restart.  

The worse the neighborhood, the higher risk.  People make money in every asset class, property selection even within an asset class is critical.  Make sure that you have a good capital base so you can weather tough stretches wherever you invest.  I am a big proponent of coming to the market and walking through the house/area you intend to invest in.  I think that seeing the actual area will help you be more informed about your investment.  

On a personal finance note I am a bigger fan of buying your primary residence first.  Investing in Real Estate is a great boost/wealth builder and can even replace W2 income at a certain point but having a paid off primary residence come retirement is in my eyes more important.  If your going to start that 30 year clock, better to start it sooner than later (especially with CA appreciation).  
I think this is especially true if you’ll be able to swing both in a reasonable time period based on the commission you’ll get back from the purchase.  

Quote from @Benjamin Seibert:

Quote from @Bob Okenwa:

@Benjamin Seibert

What's the square footage? What street is it on? 

Rough estimate would be around $1-$1.50 per square foot off the top of my head. BP calculator or rentometer is a decent starting point and you can drill down on what's listed in the area online and begin to gauge what the price should be.

Sounds like the PM wants to get the unit filled as quickly as possible. 

 The address is 1960 Revere Rd Cleveland Heights OH - 4 BR 3 BA 2463 SF. Thanks!

I sent a PM with my thoughts.  Seems low for sure though   

That does seem low.  A 4 bedroom in CH should start $1,300 in most locations unless I’m missing something.  Take a look at what’s currently available for rent and see how it matches up.

The process is fairly straight forward.  You hire a lead tester who comes out to first do some cleaning and then swab windows, doors, and floors (I believe 16 swabs if I'm not mistaken) and sends them out to a lab.  If anything comes back high then you need to use a lead contractor to correct the issue, in many cases painting will do the trick but you might need to do some replacement also.  Again this has to be done by a lead contractor, not any random painter or window person.  After repairs are made then you can get the failed areas retested and get your clearance.  This has to be repeated every two years.  There are different schools of thought that you should proactively replace windows which can be pricey and the house might have passed any way, you can proactively paint with someone who is not a lead contractor which would save money on the painting but still may fail or could have been unnecessary, or you can test and roll the dice and deal with the consequences if you have lead.  If you are buying new I would recommend asking for the seller to get the house to pass lead safe certification prior to transfering the house, I'm not sure if that will fly with many sellers but it would save a lot of potential headaches after buying.  

The rents are higher but so are the costs, cleaning, vacancy, admin, etc. are all higher.  Also you need to furnish the unit and if things break that are still normal wear and tear that on you.  It can do better but it’s not apples to apples to say it’s a straight 2.5x higher on the revenue side without considering the increase in expense.

Is it a single family or a multi family?  If its a single family and you self manage you could try to get the tenant to do it for less or give them a small credit.  I'm not a fan of doing this because if they mess up and you get a fine then your in a fight with the tenant and trying to get back that money is never a good situation. 

Quote from @Yazan Alhalalmeh:

Quote from @Andrew Weiner:

Hi Yazan,

Since you are local I would recommend driving through some of the neighborhoods that you are interested in. What you see on the MLS, or online is great to learn from but nothing beats walking the streets and getting a feel for the neighborhood. You can even schedule some tours of rentals that are available and see what the current inventory looks like and what it is priced at. This should help you in evaluating properties. For someone just starting I recommend buying something relatively turn key, sometimes start up costs on a vacant can be higher than expected. Also if you are looking in Cleveland proper watch make sure you can pass the Cleveland lead inspections, if the windows, doors, or siding are in bad shape it can be expensive.

Good Luck,

Andrew

 Thank you for the advice. It's a great idea. I will definitely start doing that. 

Since you mentioned Turnkey, Reading about it made me more interested in the concept especially for someone like me just getting started. Do you recommend and TK providers? Thank you again

I don’t think you need to use a turnkey provider specifically.  When I use the term turnkey I just mean something that has been updated and is clearly well maintained, rented out already, and comes with management.  The goal being to get some cash flow from day one and avoid any early larger expenses.