All Forum Posts by: Jimmy Lieu
Jimmy Lieu has started 97 posts and replied 2097 times.
Post: House hack in Grandview
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Devan S.:
Congratulations Devan! I got started in real estate investing by house hacking myself as well! Now I own 31 rentals (10 in Ohio and 21 in FL!). I always tell investors that if you're single/young, you should definitely house hack once a year and then rent them out and keep rinse and repeating every year. Killing it man!
Post: Real estate investor
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Sankalp Godugu:
Hi there! I'm looking to purchase my first multi family home in the city of Colombus and am looking for the hard numbers, metrics I should be on the lookout for, and sample properties to get my hands wet as far as what's considered a good deal and area to invest in. Any feedback and suggestions with examples to get started would be much appreciated. I am looking for 6% yield minimum on my cash with 40k-60k down payment. Additionally any pros/cons for using FHA loan would also be much appreciated, thanks!
Hi Sankalp, welcome to BP! I got started by moving from Portland OR to Columbus Ohio and started full time real estate investing here and started with house hacking/multifamily as well. I would recommend working with a good investor agent who can help with all of this! Your agent should be able to help with your deal analysis, consulting on whether a deal is good/bad, learning neighborhoods, estimating renovations, building your team, etc. (this is always what I make sure to do with all of my clients)
With an FHA loan, it means you would have to owner occupy and live in Columbus Ohio. Additionally, FHA usually isn't the strongest type of financing and sellers don't like it as much because there's a lot more financing restrictions and the house needs to be pretty much turnkey. FHA usually is a lot more stringent when it comes to repairs needed and the seller has to make these remedies or the buyer won't qualify for financing. The biggest pro of using FHA and conventional financing is you can easily use them to house hack for 3-5% down payment which is an extremely low down payment.
Happy to send you a few example deals so you can see some numbers and returns and would love to connect and answer any other questions you have! Here in Columbus Ohio, you can still find the positive cash flow (aka the 1% rule) and you get amazing appreciation in any real estate you buy. Look at all the population growth, job growth, and companies moving/developing here - it's absolutely blowing up and Columbus is one of the hottest markets in the entire US. Happy investing! :)
Post: I need a hard money loan
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Devin Peterson:
Quote from @Damein White:
Any referral for a hard money loan out in Ohio
Lots of great HMLs to connect with depending on what your needs are. I would recommend using a connected broker who can shop terms for you
Strongly recommend Devin, he's awesome to work with!
Post: Looking for contractor who can enlarge & replace the basement windows with egress
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Hazel Anderson:
Hello, bigger pockets pros,
We have a rental property in Columbus and we are looking for a contractor who can replace the existing basement window with a standard sized window. Is anyone you recommend ? Thank you so much!
Hi Hazel, I work with a lot of investor clients from OOS and have carefully vetted general contractors that are licensed, bonded, and insured and do great quality of work. Happy to refer and help you out!
Post: Investing in Upstate NY?
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Account Closed:
Hi BP Community,
My husband and I have been preparing to begin our real estate investment journey, and we could use some insight. We've essentially ruled out investing in our local community because we can't seem to find a good deal (we live about 1.5 hours north of NYC, so purchase prices are very high), so we are considering (1) investing out of state; or (2) investing in some northern NY localities (Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, etc.). We would love to hear from anyone who current invests in any of the northern NY cities/towns about how their experience has been, what the pros/cons are to these markets, general thoughts. If you have specific thoughts about any particular area, we would love to hear about that too. It would be our preference to invest in upstate NY because we could drive there relatively easily, but if there are better deals elsewhere, we would be more inclined to go with option (1).
Hi Bethany, if you're investing in NY, unfortunately the price range is crazy high and you won't find any cash flow. I do recommend taking a look at Columbus Ohio! A lot of clients I work with in NY invest here because it's one of the hottest real estate markets in the US and has some of the best macroeconomics - population growth, job growth, and companies moving and developing here. For example Intel headquarters, Google, FB, Amazon, Nationwide, Honda, (recently Anduril announced another 4k jobs to Columbus). Additionally, the price point is still cheap enough to find the 1% rule and positive cash flow and there's amazing appreciation potential. Lastly, the price point is still very cheap here in the sense that you can still find investment deals that hit the 1% rule for 120-180k! Happy to connect and answer any questions you have!
Post: I need a hard money loan
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Damein White:
Any referral for a hard money loan out in Ohio
I have some great hard money lenders in the Ohio area that both me and my other clients have used! They provide the best terms (i've shopped around for over 100+ lenders)! Happy to connect and refer you over to them!
Post: Location considerations for BRRRR
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Matt Ricky:
Hey! I have a pretty large capital ready to step into this game,
I am in big conflicts either choosing Ohio(Cincinnati/Dayton) or Texas(Houston) for BRRRR method,
I read a lot about Ohio, only positive stuff. But I am sure I can make it even in Texas. How big impact is that? For BRRRR, or flips in general.
Tlooking also to have sort of lifestyle and not living in cold 1/4 of the year with snow.
the question, is there is big differences between markets?
should I consider heavily Ohio or you can make it pretty much any place, or Texas in general
Thanks!!!
Post: Selling Home for STR - Is There a Ratio of Projected Income to Sales Price?
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Bret Ceren:
Hi, BiggerPockets Community! Considering selling a home for short-term rental (STR). The HOA doesn't prevent it, so that's already cleared. There are a couple in the direct neighborhood I can find on various sites. Rabbu projects average annual revenue to be $47k. It is a great home and wonderful location, perfect for this investment model. Is there a general rule of thumb for translating that revenue into a sales price? I know what I would do for my market if it were a long-term rental in valuation, I don't know how investor buyers do it for STR. If there's a general/marginal rule of thumb that is used that I can do to start, that would be helpful. Thanks!
If you're selling a property that is 1-4 units, the value is determined strictly from the sales comps of other similar properties. How much it makes as a LTR/STR/MTR doesn't have any effect on the pricing as it's value is strictly from comps. If you're dealing with 5+ units and commercial properties, then yes, it's all based on NOI/cap rates
Post: Canadian Investing in US - Can we borrow against stock Investments as a Canadian
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Melissa Vass Scott:
Hello Everyone,
I recently heard that real estate investors in the US can borrow against stock investments for a mortgage? Is there anyone out there that has insight to this? We are Canadians looking to purchase a few rental properties in Ohio. If borrowing against stocks is an option, do they have to be stocks held within the US and/or do Canadian stock investments count as well?
Any insight would be most appreciated.
Hi Melissa, I work with quite a few canadian clients in the Columbus Ohio market so have tons of experience with this! Happy to connect you with them!
Post: From Canada to Cleveland
- Real Estate Agent
- Columbus, OH
- Posts 2,177
- Votes 1,654
Quote from @Eric Martin:
Hey Biggerpockets community,
I'm an investor from Toronto, Ontario where SFRs are $1m, the landlord tenant board is a nightmare and cap rates are doing the limbo. I bought my first rental in London, ON in October 2019, and recently sold in August 2024. I'm looking for a market where I can park the proceeds from my previous property and create some cashflow. Cleveland, Ohio seems to be the place to be in terms of cap rates and distance from home. I have about 250k USD to allocate to this venture, but I may want to dip my toes into the market with a single-family residence in an area like Parma Heights and test the waters. My first property was chaotic with tenant troubles, so Ohio being a landlord-friendly state and Parma Heights being A-class location, I'm eager to get involved and experience the difference. As a cross-border investor, I'm likely going to need advice on entity structure to protect my liability while also not being double-taxed, I'm going to need to network with experienced investors/property managers/agents in the Cleveland area. Would love to hear the community's thoughts and meet some Clevelanders!
Hi Eric, welcome to BP! If you're looking for strictly cash flow and that's the most important, I definitely recommend going with Cleveland. However, if you're okay with some cash flow but AMAZING appreciation potential and the best macroeconomics, I would look into the Columbus Ohio market as this is where all of the population growth, job growth, and companies moving/developing here (for example Intel, Google, Amazon, FB, LG, Honda, Nationwide, Anduril, etc). On the other hand, Cleveland is losing population year to year and people are leaving the city.