All Forum Posts by: Jeff Brower

What is your posted criteria and has she met all of them? 

I just finished reading the book the other day. A lot of good nuggets, but hard to implement, like you said, when dealing through a realtor via mls listings. I have been using the 'it seems like.....' conditioning a lot more lately (especially with my girlfriend haha). I think those that listen to him on the BP podcast will get a lot of those nuggets without having to actually read the book, but it was a good read nonetheless.

@Mitchell Litam I live and focus east of Cleveland in Lake County, but I have a good buddy who is with KW on the west side who could assist you. I will pm you his name and number.

@Albert L. no worries! If you want advice on any others you see out here in Lake County just let me know.

Agree 100% with @Brian D. Beatty . I also like facebook as I can click on the profile of the perspective applicant and get a quick look at their history. Zillow will disseminate the ad to other sources which is also nice. Craigslist I have used as well. I think these 3 will cover 95% of all folks searching.

I agree with all above. I just went through this situation but it was an inherited tenant for a duplex I purchased. No way for me to prove that it didn't smell that way prior to her moving in (she claimed it was). I just took the hit and cleaned it up myself. I used a TSP solution to scrub the walls and cabinets in the kitchen. I had Stanley steemer clean all of the carpets. I also bought an ozone generator like mentioned above which helped a lot. You can find one on amazon for around $80. Plug it in for 24 hours in front of the main return and turn on your furnace fan. This will disseminate the ozone into the entire home. Just be careful and read up on using these machines before you use it. Inhaling the stuff is bad. Worst case scenario you may need to paint the walls with kilz, luckily I didn't have to go that far as the above methods worked.

I would do the work upfront. Sounds like a pain doing the reno with tenants already in place. Do a cost analysis of rent differential vs the vacancy cost and you will find your answer.

Congrats btw, I am doing the same thing over in Lake County, moved into my duplex this summer.

PRIOR to background  and credit, I just search the local county online records and make calls to past landlords and employer. For the actual payed background and credit, I use mysmartmove which charges the tenant directly. I have been happy with the information provided on there, it goes down even to 10 year old speeding tickets. I am impressed with the info given.

Hi Albert,

I can offer some local insight as well. I just checked out the property on the mls. The disclosure documents are blank, as can be expected. If someone never lived in the property they are allowed to leave the disclosure document empty, which is a strange caveat in my mind if they were renting it out. That rule was really intended to be for folks who inherit a place. Common, but not helpful. 

The property isn't in a very good area in my opinion. I am on the hunt for another duplex in lake county and saw this a while ago and decided against going to view it, not saying it wouldn't pan out, but I just want to buy where I would be willing to live. I understand not everyone shares the same filter. The broker remarks section which is not visible to the public says 'please use caution when accessing the garage'. I am not sure what is wrong but it at least looks like in needs 3 new doors. Picture #3 shows what appears to be a pretty decent lateral crack in the cinder under the porch (pic included). Other than that, inside the units look okay. Siding and shingles don't look the greatest, it is a 1910 building so that is a con. 

Streetview on google shows that it is on a corner so the backyard isn't really a backyard. I copied a snapshot showing a couple of old cars in front of the garage. These are long gone as this is old, but kind of illustrates what is allowed in the area.

I painted a grim picture, but please don't let this deter you too much. I am just super critical and like to point everything out to out of state folks who may not view things the same way I do. If you end up getting serious and want more pictures, that is something that I may be able to help you out with. I'm sure you already have a local resource but wanted to offer just in case. I live about 25 minutes from there. 

I can agree with most of your post. I helped a member that I met on here from California buy a nice 80k rental that happened to be down the street from my home in a far east of Cleveland suburb. Even mowed the grass for him all summer while it was vacant and did work to help him get it rent ready. I am not a property manager so I declined that aspect but assisted him to get to that point. There are good folks here, you just have to find them. I can agree, take a flight and spend a weekend here, it will be worth it in the long run.