All Forum Posts by: Griffin Myers

@Jad Boudiab Ideally, I'd find something in a more urban setting that cash flows nicely, but it seems like that's going to be hard to find so maybe Parma/far westside might be better options. 

@Tom Ott I have looked at the heights areas, and as Jad mentioned, taxes are even higher in those areas.

Are there any areas I should focus my search when trying to find a multifamily for a potential house hack? I really want to end up in Lakewood, but it seems like the taxes there kill almost any opportunity for cash flow. Honestly, it seems like property taxes in most places in CLE kill cash flow potential.

I'm in the process of searching for my first investment property and was wondering how important it was to link up with a good RE attorney before closing on a property? 

@Mackal Smith Thanks for the response - I've been looking at B neighborhoods. I've been estimating Vacancy at 8.3% (one month out of the year) of rents. Thanks for the note on insurance. How do you estimate your repairs/capex? Do you just throw in 10% for each?

Hi all, I've started analyzing properties for my first deal. I'm looking in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh areas and have yet to find one duplex that cash flows. How do you come up with estimates for various expenses, such as insurance, water, repairs, capex, closing costs, etc.? I've been using ~$100/month for insurance, $100/month for water, then 10% of gross annual rents for capex and repairs. Using these numbers, every single property I've analyzed has come out cash flow negative. I know it's not easy to find great deals in this market, but I've analyzed a ton of properties and haven't found one positive one..

@Patrice Penda I'd be living in it, so I could put a small amount down if that makes any difference. Like I said, this is going to be my first property so I don't know the exact CoC return I should be aiming for here. I was more interested in getting information on how to figure out how to get the inputs to actually analyze potential properties so I can narrow down my list.

@Patrice Penda Thanks for the response. Is 15% being optimistic?

I'm in the process of hunting for my first investment property - I'm in talks with a realtor who has basically said to let him know what properties interest me and we can do more research from there (ironing out the costs I'm going to be looking at if I were to purchase the property). But, the properties that interest me are the ones that will have a nice cash on cash return. So how do I come up with the numbers that I need to consider as inputs when analyzing a property so that I'm not saying I'm interested in every single duplex that is in my price range and getting the numbers post letting him know the property interests me. 

@Edward B. That's essentially what I was saying, but worded it incorrectly. The guest on 252 mentioned that there was a 30 day window where I can talk to various lenders and it will count as one hard inquiry. 

Regarding the interest rate - I don't actually have a property in mind yet, I was just approved up to a certain dollar amount by the only lender I talked to. Can I ask these lenders straight up what interest rate they'd give me or is that something that only comes after I have a property in mind? To simplify, again, is it worth shopping around if I've already had one lender do a hard pull, and I do not plan on having a property in mind within the next 30 days (i.e. no interest rate information)?

I was recently pre-approved for a mortgage - after listening to Ep. 252, the guest mentioned that once you have one lender pull your credit report, you can talk to other lenders who are then able to see the same report (i.e. they don't have to pull it themselves which would lower your score each time it's pulled). Is this true? How important is it to shop around for lenders?