All Forum Posts by: Zoran M.

In Northeast ohio you can get taxes reduced only after you purchase the property. If the assessed value is in excess of what you paid, the city will typically reduce the assessed value to what you paid. It took me about 2 months on my primary residence, which was purchased as a short sale. Would be interested to hear other people's views.

In many instances you will be required to submit a proof of funds with your offer. Thus I recommend getting financing lined up before submitting an offer.

I submitted an offer on a short sale two days ago. The seller approved of the price today and the offer has been sent to the bank for their approval. Timeline has a lot to do with who the bank is, as well as the number of lenders involved. I'm working with a regional lender, which is a positive. In fact, I purchased my primary residence from the same bank in 2011. In that instance, it took 3mo from offer to close. I'd imagine things have gotten quicker since then due to the reduction in short sale volume.

@Christian Carson

First off, love your blog. It's on my bookmark bar.

Also, you are correct. Great neighborhood. I live in the city myself, though north of the tracks. We may know the same realtor.

The property is great, but the POS is long. Also, the house is full of junk - including refrigerators full of rotting food and dog poop on the carpets, etc. I'll literally need two haul-away units to empty the trash.

For sewer/water, there is only one meter. I plan on (should I get the property...submitted a strong bid today) charging the tenants a flat monthly fee for water & sewer. $25pp / month.

Wasn't aware of the occupancy fees. As if the taxes weren't high enough...!

Are you from the east or west side?

@Andresa Guidelli

No doubt, I need the capital! It's also an easier way for me to repay my investor as it wouldn't require taking out a mortgage after a 6-12 month seasoning period.

@Andresa Guidelli

The street is all duplexes that look like single-family homes. Over 70% are owner-occupied; they typically rent the downstairs unit to offset cost of home-ownership. It's a very desirable neighborhood w/ good schools, hence the high taxes.

Target for the rent / flip would be young professionals or a younger family. It's a 10 minute drive from the Cleveland Clinic and a number of large Fortune 500 company headquarters.

@Andy Luick Down is 2bed/1ba, Up is 4bed / 2ba on two floors.

With the incremental rehab spend for the flip, I would use nicer finishes in the Up (owner-occupy) unit. Instead of a $2/sq. ft. tile, I'd use one that's $5/sq. Full rehab of 2 baths rather than just glazing the existing tile. Things like that.

My first thought was to rent the down unit initially and put the home on the market. That way potential buyers wouldn't have to deal w/ finding a tenant and would have a cash-flowing property on day 1.

Hi all – I wanted to get the community’s take on this all-cash deal for a multifamily unit. It’s in a very good part of Cleveland, hence the ARV. I plan to get a mortgage after 6-12 months, so my analysis will include those figures: Purchase: $87,000 Reno: $30,000 Initial Investment incl. closing costs: $120,000 ARV based on comps: $200,000 Flip income: $40-50k (Reno would be nicer if I flip it, so rehab would go from $30k to $40-50) Annual figures: Gross Rent: $24,000 ($1,100 up unit / $900 down unit) Vacancy (8%): $2000 Gross Income: $22,000 Taxes: $6,000 Insurance: $1,200 Repairs: $500 (fully rehabbed property) Realtors fee (for tenant placement): $2,000 Total Expenses: $9,700 NOI: $12,300 Mortgage: $7,423 Annual Cash Flow: $4,877 Cash ROI: 4.0% Total ROI: 5.9% I could improve cash flow by $2,000 by placing tenants myself.

Welcome to the site, Evan. Nice to see fellow Clevelanders. East or west sider? Good luck to you!

Originally posted by @Jessica H.:

Looks like a great project, we also just recently closed on an estate sale. Do you need to clean out the furniture also?

To my knowledge, the current occupant (the daughters) will be taking the furniture with them. I hope they leave a few of the mirrors, though!

I will update this page in conjunction with a recently launched blog, www.thatflippingcouple.com.

This thread will include more gorey details than the blog, largely for the sake of input from the BP community.

I am located in the Cleveland, Ohio market. Specifically, I am flipping a property in Cleveland Heights, which is known for homes like the two pictured below. Diversity, to say the least!

Day 1 - Under Contract, Finally.

We began our search for a suitable fix-and-flip property in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland in early January after securing the necessary funds from an investor partner (50/50 profit split). While I thought the hardest part of flipping would be securing the necessary capital, the last three months have proved that actually acquiring a property in need of rehab is not an easy task. Our offers were attractive - all cash, immediate close and no contingencies. Who could compete with that? Well, apparently lots of investors can, as evidenced by the 5+ offer situations I found myself in rather frequently.

After touring foreclosures for quite some time, I came across an estate sale. It was still occupied by the daughters of the mother who recently passed. They apparently weren't too keen on having buyers trample through the house, as evidenced by the the five or six showings they turned down during that four day period.Thanks to the persistence of my Realtor, however,we were able to schedule a showing the fifth day it was on the market.

I put in an offer - 17% below list price - the very next morning. As part of my offer, I wrote the family a letter expressing our condolences and sharing our own story with them. It worked. After some back and forth about the price and the close date (they needed to find a new home/apartment), we had a deal. I signed the paperwork March 1st.

We close April 13th. I have my inspector coming in next Monday, along with two contractors who will be quoting out the job.

I'll post all of the nitty-gritty cost estimates at that time. Without further ado, here it is:

3 beds, 1.5 baths, 1,500 sq. ft. (not including finished 3rd floor).