All Forum Posts by: Pam R.

Awesome! Nice work.

You're right about the numbers Mike. We do manage ourselves (hubby is a SAHD, so this is his contribution to the family income). He maintenanced apartments for a living for 25 years, so we've always factored in he would do all the work.

I'd love to get the numbers you suggest, but they are hard to find without buying in a less desirable neighborhood, or doing some rehab. That's the thing - I think me and the hubby are too picky about the places we buy. If it looks like it could be a pain to maintain (old wiring, needs all the windows replaced, etc), we pass on it. But now that the kids are in school, and he has more time, I think we're going to shoot for the numbers you suggest by putting in a little elbow grease up-front.

And I think I need to raise the rent at one of the properties. Last time it came up for rent, we posted an ad on Craigslist at 11PM at night...and had 50 calls by 11AM the next day. That place is going up by $50/month next time it opens up!

Thanks for the advice Mike.

Pam

Those numbers look decent. As Peters says above, get copies of the leases. Drive by at night - there is a huge difference between "Bexley" and "next to Bexley". Bexley is very nice and very expensive and has its own police force and welcoming committee and does a very good job of keeping crime and thugs out. Lovely place to live. Next to Bexley is the City of Columbus. A completely different world. I'm not intimately familiar with the area - I only make it over there 2-3 times a year, but a drive by at night, over the weekend, will give you an idea of whether you are comfortable with the location of the duplex.

And I also won't do curb offers - they are just always suspect. An owner should let you in the house to look at it.

All that being said, this may be a great opportunity. Just eyes wide open on the location.

Hi Angie. I lived in Columbus for about 15 years, am now in the greater Central Ohio area (Delaware county). We have a rental in the North Campus area. I just joined BP, and am interested in hearing how others are fairing in the Columbus market.

Hi Andrew. I just joined the forum, and saw this post while looking for Columbus OH connections. Did you pull the trigger on this investment? I have a duplex in 43202.

Ohio law is similar to Kentucky's:

5321.13 Terms prohibited in rental agreement

(C) No agreement to pay the landlord's or tenant's attorney's fees shall be recognized in any rental agreement for residential premises or in any other agreement between a landlord and tenant.

You should do some Googling of laws in your state/municipality.

And like the others say, if you are a good tenant, and don't plan on getting evicted, then you don't have much to worry about. One other thing you may want to look into is any court records to see if you if you have a reason to believe the landlord is highly litigious. He may have just realized he needed to formalize the arrangement and pulled a lease off the Internet.

I put 25% down on both my rental properties (around $120k purchase price for each). We saved for the down payments. I'm sure there are pretty creative options available, but my focus is to get a good ROI without being too leveraged, and that means I start with a chunk of my own cash. Maybe when I have more properties I'd borrow against one to buy another, but with only a couple, it's not something I would personally pursue. I've read too many stories of people getting over-leveraged, you have a bad run for a couple of months with evictions, move-outs, and repairs, and boom - the house of cards falls.

I do know someone who had a rental property paid off, and used a HELOC against it to purchase another rental. This is when rates were higher.

Good luck!

Hi Michael.

I think your numbers are similar to mine. Our most recent property in Delaware: $123k, $30k down. PITI is $700/month, rent receipts is $1225. In Columbus, we're also $30k in, and get the same $1225 on a $700 mortgage. Property taxes are more than 5x higher - mine are about $200/month, and that is considered very reasonable. But, if you take a look at my returns, I'm still making a nice amount. The problem you run into Ohio is the school levies (does Colorado have those?). Columbus just failed a school levy this week that would have boosted property taxes 30%.

You're thinking along the same lines as me for the single-family properties. I see some for $50k, but I want to pay less than that to ensure my cash flow. On a duplex I'm willing to make $200/door, but on a single family I want $400. For the work that goes into it, I need that much to make it worth my while.

These aren't the biggest mistakes a landlord can make, but even these little ones add up:

1. Don't refund the deposit until the utilities are completely finalized. I had a tenant move out with 3 weeks left, turned off their electric, so it got switched to our name. (She was going to clean during daylight, and had been a great tenant for 3 years until I got that electric notice). Well, we settled the electric bill from her deposit when I got what I thought was the final bill...and then I got a $50 bill post-mortem.

2. Failure to set up a program with the utility company to notify you if the utility is being shut off for failure to pay. You definitely want to know if someone isn't paying their utilities.

3. Not including an item in the lease to regularly inspect the premises. Our clause: we can come in monthly (with notice) to inspect the smoke detectors. This is way better than the furnace filter clause some people use - because that only gets you in the basement. For smoke detectors, we get to the bedrooms.

4. Not utilizing the smoke inspector clause frequently enough to make sure the house is in good order. We would have found the cat and pet rodents earlier.

5. Not interviewing/researching potential tenants before meeting them. After our first few no-show viewings, we now interview all potential tenants when they call. Extensively. And then go to the Internet and research them - court records, Facebook, Twitter. And only if they pass that vetting do they get an appointment to see the place.

Hi All.

My name is Pam and my husband and I own a couple of rental duplexes in Central Ohio - one in Columbus, OH (north of OSU campus), and another in Delaware, OH. We bought the first property almost 4 years ago, the 2nd earlier this year. I work full-time in the IT industry, the hubby is a SAHD who manages our rental properties and takes care of our daughters (and our small hobby farm).

So far, we've been very happy with our real estate purchases, and our keeping an eye out to add to our portfolio when the right opportunity arises. I'm hoping to find some good advice and read some great success stories on this forum. Probably the biggest thing I want to learn about is investing in single-family homes. We've focused on duplexes because we like the cash-flow, but because we are pretty picky about what we buy, the portfolio growth isn't happening very quickly: we looked for a year before buying the first property, waited a year, and looked for two years before buying the second. Duplexes at a good price point are dwindling, and I don't want to wait another three years before I buy the next income property.

Looking forward to sharing stories with lots of you!

Pam