All Forum Posts by: Jad Boudiab

@Matt Cannon majority of the Warehouse District buildings in Downtown Cleveland are large multi-million dollar redevelopment projects - The Bingham, Bridgeview Apartments, etc. and the neighboring Flats area is purely Class A new development.

These are made for the big developer/HOA to make the big bucks, not much room for the small investor, with all respect.

Odds are, if you land a chic and trendy unit downtown, the developer or HOA will not leave you with much room for cash flow and your mortgage payment alone on something like this is north of $1,500/mo. for $350,000.

@Wei Mai All good points here, I would highly recommend making a trip to Cleveland or any area you're looking to invest in, and speaking with local investors about their experiences, neighborhoods of interest, etc. Cleveland (and suburbs) are very diverse, and there's lots of good and bad pockets.

Best advice for anyone out of state would be to put in the time doing the research. Not just the neighborhoods, but also your PM, boots on the ground, whatever you want to call it. I have clients making awesome returns in the roughest parts of Cleveland, and others are in the negatives in B+ areas.

In the Greater Cleveland region, you can find what you're looking for in the B grade cities of Lakewood and Parma, zip codes 44107, 44129, 44134. You'll find $100-150,000 MF (likely a two-family) with a solid tenant base, specifically in Lakewood where many millennials and young professionals working in downtown Cleveland prefer to live. Each city has its pros and cons, lookout for POS and higher property taxes in Lakewood, but also high demand and potential rent increase. Lower taxes and slightly less demand in Parma, overall good value.

@Marco C. I took over management on a 15-unit on Seneca Ave earlier this year, minutes from steel corps, and can tell you from my experience it's rough. Majority of the tenants are on subsidized rent, very low income and distressed.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on specific pockets you like and find attractive to invest in.

Welcome to the site @Mike Rosso .

I would recommend sticking to the westside of Lorain in 44053. Not a fan of eastern part of town and zip 44052, specifically neighborhoods nearing U.S and Republic Steel, that area is a lot like East Cleveland.

Good Luck

Thanks @Ian Kurela , here's my 2 cents.

I am not the biggest proponent of flipping from afar. It can still be done, but too many factors play into it that I don't recommend it to anyone without extensive flipping experience. Think of it this way - the team you will find willing to help you likely has very little flipping experience and will make mistakes and learn at your expense, not a good business plan. Most successful flippers that know/have what it takes would instead pursue a good deal for themselves than act as a deal finder for someone else. Why scour through the market and view properties and hunt down wholesalers to eventually give you the deal, when they can take on the project and generate greater returns themselves?

Here's the twist, these successful flippers are the people you want to be in partnership with, but they have no incentive to do the work for you and take a smaller piece of the pie. Since you'll be more on the funding side than the acquisition, rehab, and resale side, I would recommend teaming up with those successful flippers by acting as a lender. Of course you have to see a track record, but this is a more sound business plan that you can follow, repeat, and eventually fund multiple different flippers and be involved in a lot more deals. Flipping is a lot more intensive than people think, and is hard to scale and automate from out of state. If you can't simply systematize and automate whatever you're doing, don't do it.

Tom Ott thanks for sharing, that seems to be the most recent article on it. They're still requiring the $50 rental inspection fees however, we're having to deal with them right now. @Gwen Fyfe they've had a "temporary freeze" on POS for about a year, but city reps still insist it will come back into play. It seems like there's still uncertainty about the future as city reps say one thing, and the court reports say another.

@Antoine Martel no changes there, you would still need to register the property as a rental, and have a rental inspection, around $50.

Some good news for investors from Bedford Housing & Building Dept.

The city has a temporary hold on point of sale requirements. There's no POS requirements on buyers and sellers at the meantime. This may likely be enforced again sometime in the future, however, all that's needed from city in the meantime is a special assessment search ($10) through the city's building dept, and a quick form for buyer to fill out. If you have thought about buying or selling in the city of Bedford, this could be the best time to do so.

@Account Closed We're seeing an increase in rental activity from the younger generation looking for a place after college, and as always a steady demand for low-income housing throughout the entire Greater Cleveland region.

The overall population figures you've mentioned are influenced by the snowbirds leaving the area, as that makes up a large portion of the population - specifically in the suburbs. I expect that trend to balance out in the coming years, and population trends to change.

Jad