All Forum Posts by: John Lenhart

if you own enough units and have enough tenants you will have to deal with bedbugs.

They are not a huge deal and the bugs themselves are harmless. It usually takes a couple treatments to get rid of them. You do your best to try and pass this off to the tenant because the tenant is the one who brought them there in the first place. 

Factor the matter is that bedbugs can happen anywhere, even a five star hotel. It is not the end of the world having to deal with it and sooner or later you will need to deal with it no matter what property you purchase

Tom, pm me, I may have a few options for you

@Kyle Neff - I highly recommend setting up an LLC. It is easy to do and provides that protection. Ideally, you do it for your single family, but I can understand the administrative burden that makes it a pain for a SFR.

If you are doing a multi-unit and especially an out of state investment, you definitely want to have an LLC. In Ohio they are only about $100 to form. Plus, you will need to establish a separate bank account for your funds.

You even want to do this with 4 family property. Even though your mortgage on 1-4 units will say it cannot be assigned to an LLC, most banks will not have an issue with you deeding it to an LLC after the fact and that is typically best practice anyway.

Congrats, the UC area is definitely humming along. Will this be student housing? 

@Mica Moore it is not the fastest growing market, but it is a growing market. It is very stable with a good business community. As with any larger city, there are good and bad areas. It is a much more diversified economy than I would imagine Reno is and a larger market than Reno so you will have more areas of town to learn about to make an informed decision. 

It is a very good market. The downside is that it does not get institutional cash from the very largest players, but there still is a lot of private money from both in town and outside of town who invest very successfully in the area. With anything, do your homework. Buy in the right neighborhoods at the right prices. 

I would not be scared of the West Side. I have properties all over (both east, west and central)  and there are good areas and bad. Don't be afraid to check out NKY either or even the Southern Dayton, Ohio area that borders the Cincinnati suburbs.

Clifton and CUF are nice college areas, but I think prices tend to be a little inflated given the college atmosphere. I would personally stay away from Westwood unless you are an expert on the area. Queensgate is class D, North Avondale is very stable, but again make sure you understand the area very well. Walnut Hills is undergoing a renaissance but it depends on the block. There are certainly parts of Walnut Hills that are phenomenal and other blocks in that neighborhood that will not turn around for the next decade. 

It all depends on your risk strategy. Are you looking in the city limits or suburbs? from a City limits standpoint, Cincinnati covers a very small land area. There are a lot of good neighborhoods in Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties where you can find a good return on your investment. IF you cross the river, Kenton, Campbell and Boone Counties can have good opportunities too. You ware welcome to reach out to me if you have any specific questions on the area.  

@Joe Bourguignon - I self manage my properties and we have an in-house staff.  We have purchased properties balanced has managed in the past and have liked what they have done on the management side.  We have also assisted them on some leasing activities (I am not a 3rd party manager)

The issue that some of the top ones have is that unless they get a certain critical mass in a neighborhood, it is hard to justify a full time leasing agent in the area. If you are looking at a 30 unit complex it is a bit harder and more expensive to find all the firms willing to compete for business in an area if they have no other presence. If they have 500 units in the area already, it is much easier to pick up an additional 30. 

What neighborhoods are you targeting?

@Joe Bourguignon I have always been a fan of Balanced Property Solutions or Sundance is also pretty good. For a 60 unit, it will likely depend what part of town you are in since you are not likely to have a full time on-site manager.

It at least lets the seller/broker know you have interest in the property. If the property sits for a while and or higher bidders become unable to perform, they may circle back and ask if you want to re-bid or play ball and you are likely to get a decent deal then. 

 If you are looking to good class C areas I would consider Cheviot, Reading, College Hill, Northside 

Amongst some other areas