All Forum Posts by: Christopher Sandys

 Dude, I lived in Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Adams Morgan, and MidTown Manhattan.  Do you have any idea how pedestrian, vanilla, and boring Columbus is?  
Not a fan.

All the rent (100%) is paid by the government (our tax $$)?? Is it really?? For over 20 years, we've been dealing with Section 8, it's a rollercoaster. You might get the rare tenant whose rent is 100% covered by Section 8. But they don’t pop the champagne just yet, every year Section 8 conducts a rent reevaluation, and whenever the tenant's income changes, they do another reevaluation. Talk about keeping you on your toes!

Last year one of our Section 8 resident was paying about 20% of the rent. This year, they're paying about 50%. It's like playing rent roulette in these streets!

So, to say Section 8 pays 100% of the rent without adding a few disclaimers is like claiming you always win at the carnival games. You might get lucky, but don't count on it!

@Remington Lyman Dude, what is your beef with Toledo here on BP? Not every city in Ohio is the mighty Columbus , with $174k median home price vs Toledo's of $107k. Yes, it is appreciating very nicely as it's one of the biggest growth cities in the Midwest now. Everyone knows I'm a Toledo Investor and I think it's a great rental market to get into, especially if you're a new investor. The entry point is much lower, and I'll take the returns here all day long and not have to get into the Columbus arms race. @Jared Galde I would love to get together and talk Toledo RE, PM me and we'll set something up. I think you're investing in a great area.

How current is this data?  I spoke vis-a-vis, with this person 6 days ago. She told me that it is not being enforced.  She is the chief enforcement officer.

This past July I had my first single-family home in Toledo approved for a Community Housing Voucher, i.e. Section 8. The three bedroom, 1.5 bath is grossing $1400/month from the Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority. It is in a C-neighborhood. My all-in acquisition costs were about $20k. That includes all of the purchasing costs plus renovations. After paying the monthly, full mortgage component, I am grossing about $730/month. Break even on acquisition costs in 28 months while government is funding my principal, interest, insurance, taxes, and PMI.

That's a pretty good return, right?  

The major, major issue here in Toledo is the Lead Safe initiative. Enforcement is halted by a court order. If that changes, and I have to install a boat-load of new, piece-of-crap vinyl windows, the entire ROI will change. Heck - the entire rental market for <5 units in Toledo will experience significantly decreased liquidity and availability.

I own a house next door to a Multi-family house in Toledo.  The house next door was bank-owned, but they finally found a California investor to purchase 345 Rockingham St, Toledo, OH.  

The current tenants, whom I know, are getting the heck out, because it has been so neglected.  They told me the new owners wanted to sell them the house, i.e. the California investors quickly realized that they are holding a white elephant.   

This house is in a rough state of affairs - market wise.  Regardless of how cheap the acquisition price, getting it market legal will take significant money.  You'll either need to get it section 8 ready, or you will need to get it Pb-certified ready.  Either way, you're probably in for at least another $20-30k.  From what I hear, there are some issues with the plumbing, i.e. big time leaking.  Also, there is a garage that is entirely unstable and unusable.  I'm just waiting for it to collapse into my yard.  The back porch is held-up by concrete masonry units (cinder blocks).  It's just a hot mess.

The current tenants told me that the CA investors said, "It didn't look that bad in the pictures."