All Forum Posts by: Michael K Gallagher

My hypothesis on this subject is that the safest rental place to be in is the median/high middle rent prices.  So for me in Columbus OH my units are in the 1200-1400 range.  My theory is that in goods times, people are moving up and will want to move into a town house with a back yard, and updated fixtures...but also in a time of economic down turn, if someone is currently paying over 2K a month or had to sell their home...they will drop down to my range as well.  So in either economic situation I have a large tenant pool to choose from.  

Again just my theory using no data whatsoever...just some yankee logic.

@Daniel Carlson there is some great advice in here!  Especially from @Nathan James with his heart to heart recommendation.  That is probably the best course of action.  But to your logic I don'y think you are under any requirement to honor that "month to month" agreement.  As far as I understand it as long as you give notice to not renew the lease I don't see any issue.  But I also understand your worry about the moratorium, that is an area I am not familiar with those rules.  

I'm local you Cbus I live in Franklinton and have a duplex in South of Main, if you have any questions about anything as you start out don't hesitate to reach out, I'd be happy to help if I can.  

What part of town is your duplex in?

@Sam Cerreta I currently Live in Franklinton, my wife bought a flipped house here.  I also used to live in SOMA in a duplex my wife and I house hacked.  I'm an agent in the area and would be more than happy to talk any specifics with you and understand what your investors are looking for.  Anywhere surrounding downtown, with a couple of exceptions, qualify for Tax abatements.  Rents, again depending on the quality of the unit, range from $750/mnth to $1600/month depending on the block and the property.  As far as "affluence", goes I'd rank the areas as follows:

1) German village/Bexley

2) short north

3) Olde Town East

4) Franklinton

5) South of Main

6) Linden

7) Hilltop

However, Franklinton is great to live in, like anywhere.... don't leave your laptop in your backseat overnight, and you hear the occasional gunshot, but honestly that's anywhere close to downtown.

That's just my opinion from living in the city for almost 10 years and living in two of the mentioned areas.  but like I said if you're clients are looking for something specific or you'd like some boots on the ground support please don't hesitate to reach out... I literally live in Franklinton so happy to go for a walk and snag some pics for you or whatever you need.

Cheers, 

Michael

My favorite part so far...for comedic purposes, and please keep in mind this comes with some sarcasm.....I found things like: "The weights of the components are statistically optimized for each metro area in order to
best capture the underlying cyclical movements in the local area
economy." 

translation.... "we are fudging the numbers to make them look a certain way". I kid I kid! 

@Dave Meyer woooow you were not kidding at IN DEAPTH!!! this is fascinating though.  Looking forward to digging in. 

Just found him on tik tok using the hash tag “BiggerPockets” what a Sham. Anyone know if he’s still hold up in Portugal fleeing he’s lawsuits? Going to blowing up his comments so no one else is duped. All are welcome to join!

@Benjamin Kanevsky I'll be an Ohio guy on here and echo what @Remington Lyman said, Columbus is a great place to invest, but in my opinion you will need to alter your search strategy to get a good deal here.  Obviously I am not sure where your criteria came from, but, Central OH is basically built inside or outside the 270 loop.  So if you are outside the loop, or in the burbs that are just inside, where the good schools are, you are competing with people trying to find their primary residence, and the market for good school districts is crazy hot here, so SF houses are going for huge premiums and the top rents in the area just don't support that premium of a price.  

So, the good deals in the area, at least I think, are in small multifamily.  The rents support it better, and they are still very affordable and a large portion of the surrounding downtown area comes with 10-15 year 100% tax abatements.

Now if you go as far out as like Zanesville, or Delaware, or Marysville, honestly I don't know enough about those areas to comment, but you might find better deals in those areas that more closely fit your criteria for a SFR.

If you have questions about a specific area let us know, us "Ohio Guys" are always happy to chat.

Or you know...like @Account Closed said, "stay out, no good deals here"!  
  

Cheers, 

Michael

I wish I would have realized how big of a role the property taxes play in the month to month payment.  Here in Columbus OH, we have many areas of the city that are tax abated.  So if you are flexible in where you want to purchase, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars a month on taxes simply by paying attention to where the property is located.  As an example, my monthly payment (with the same down payment percentage) on a $185K home in Dublin (the burbs) was only about $300 dollars less than my current monthly payment on a $340K house in a tax abated area.

Just a heads up to all those investors in Columbus OH, if you do not already know there is a measure going to city council that there was a community meeting on last night.  The basics of the measure are as follows...

- Landlords will not be able to denny tenants for source of income, so you will be required to accept Section 8, Social Security Etc.

- Landlord will be able to deny them for amount of income, so income multiple may still be used to weed out tenants.  

- There will be a limit on security deposit equal to 1/2 of a months rent.

I'll be calling city council today to express my opinion on the matter, and I encourage any other Cbus Landlords and investors to do the same.  This is one of the best investment cities in the country in my humble opinion and the lawmakers need to hear from the people doing this day in and day out to keep it that way.

Cheers, 

@David Messam I don't think being new will be a hindrance.  If you frame it as you are new when asked and be forthcoming and honest about it, that in itself will go a long way.  If you are worried about them thinking you don't know what you are doing, then look to systems, and expertise of the process to build that trust with the seller.  If you know what you are doing, and know the rules, and follow a real system then I think you'll have better results in the short and long term. If anyone really isn't going to work with you because you are new then you probably don't want to work with them anyway, and come back to them later.  

Cheers and good luck, 

Michael