All Forum Posts by: Kristopher Hanks

@Junior Soares

I am an out of state investor and I own homes in Cleveland. In fact I own one in the 44120 zip code in the Mount Pleasant area. From first hand experience, I would have to say listen carefully to what everyone is saying to you in this thread. I have had some success and some monumental failure investing in this area (paid for my education), basically. I have two houses under contract right now that I am selling. Long stories behind both of them. They started out great and went down hill very quickly. 

You should listen to @James Wise on his youtube channel and listen to what he has to say about the different neighborhoods. A lot of experience being shared on that channel. 

My house in the 44120 has turned out to be a very good investment overall, but it has come with a lot of work to get it there. I also scored the house, for less than the cost of the lumber to build it, from a very tired Australian real estate investor, who was just done with being a landlord. If you consider investing in a neighborhood like the Mount Pleasant area this is the only way, in my opinion, to make money in a rough neighborhood. Buy very very cheap and rent for less than the surrounding rentals. But, I DO NOT advise it when you can get quality homes in quality neighborhoods for reasonable prices. The better neighborhoods come with higher rental rates to make up for the higher cost of the home. 

I am in the process of moving my investment money from Cleveland and going into Euclid. I would say that is the place to start looking. I am going to keep my house in the 44120 only because it is performing very well right now. I would avoid Skaker because of their POS rules. Their escrow account rules are ridiculous in my opinion. Find a nice house or duplex in Euclid that is POS compliant and collect the cash every month. 

My very humble $0.02. 

@Nicholas Reyes May join in the meetup when I am in town to inspect my rentals and when I am looking at new deals. Good luck. There is plenty of money to be made now that Amazon committed 3,000 jobs to the area. 

@Matt Motil I walked away from a great house in Shaker because of their POS rules. I found it difficult to believe that I needed to put approx $30,000 in cash in an escrow account and then raise funds to complete the reno. It was eye opening and has kept me from even looking at properties in Shaker Heights. 

@Jason Lewandowski, welcome. I have three successful properties in Cleveland. It is a good place to get started. As mentioned already make sure you stay up on the POS requirements in the suburbs. Also Cleveland is hiring more inspectors that will have the responsibility of making sure landlords are keeping up with their property maintenance. 

That is awesome. Way to go! Action is all that matters in real estate investing. I'm glad to hear that you have been successful up to this point. Even failures are valuable in this business. I believe that they are not failures they are lessons. Keep it up and keep us all updated on your progress. 

@Dave Raney Welcome. You will be able to find deals in the Cleveland area. Keep trying. One will come along. 

@Lesley Resnick I ate some Ramen Noodles yesterday. They were delicious. I recommend the chicken flavor. 

@Jonathan Klemm I do only if they are an investor with an interest in my business. Otherwise, none of their business. 

@Mike Austin I am an out of state investor in Cleveland. If you have questions I can help. I am not an expert like @Tom Ott is, but a real world investor in that market. I can try to help based on my experiences so far. 

@Jorge Garcia $55?! Sold!