All Forum Posts by: Robert Ellis

Even in hot markets there are deals.  I went on 5 appointments meeting with off market seller leads this week in Columbus and ended up with 1 under contract, 2 in the works short term HOT followup (negotiating), 1 that will be long term followup and 1 that wanted market price so sending to cold drip campaign.  Theres deals out there, just have to find them.

Good tip.

The last deal I bought was a single family house in Westerville Delaware County, highly desirable suburb for families. 

Like yourself, previously outbid by a cash investor.   This time round my agent and I offered $1000 above the asking price with an escalation clause and agreed to pay 100% of the closing costs.  This 4 bedrooms 2 bathroom was sensibly priced with an open house weekend so I knew I'd likely lose out to someone else if we did not act fast. 

The deal came up on the MLS on Thursday afternoon and by that evening our offer was out the door valid until 5 pm next day.

It's tough. Stay persistent, keep your pulse on the market and eventually you'll close on something valuable. 

Are you working with a local agent in the area?

We have a starting capital of $200K+ to put into REI and we are looking for long term BUY/HOLD properties and CASH FLOW. Our question is do we focus on acquiring several SFR properties or go straight for the multi-family properties?

I'm leaning more towards 5+ units with an ADD VALUE play than SFRs. What are your thoughts on using the BRRRR strategy? Or, are there any other strategies you would consider with this amount of starting capital?

We ARE NOT interested in REITS or The Stock Market!  

There are three of us involved in the partnership and we ARE NOT looking to use any of the CASH FLOW towards our daily/monthly lifestyle. We will be REINVESTING the cash flow into more properties, along with each of us committing to saving $1,000/month ($36,000/year + the yearly cash flow) to reinvest.

Two partners have corporate jobs with good six figure incomes, bonuses, 401(K), etc. and I am a real estate Broker who focuses on my transactional business (six figure income), plus I am a retired police officer with a tax free monthly income (Approx. $54,000 passive income per year-tax free), so we are covered on our living expenses.

Two partners are not looking at retiring for 10-12 years because they love what they do for work, make good money and have pensions in place. I am already SEMI-RETIRED because my police retirement covers all my monthly expenses, and work in the real estate space because I have a passion for the business and make good money doing it.

Because of my business and flexibility, I will be the ASSET MANAGER of properties we acquire and can travel to other markets if/when necessary, go build relationships with boots on the grounds in markets and put a lot of focus into our investment business and goals.

Your feedback and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

P.S. Two of us live in Southern CA (me and my girlfriend) and our other partner lives in Seattle, WA. Buy/Hold just doesn't seem to pencil in our backyards at this time, so we are leaning towards OOS investing where cash flow and COC seems to be more prominent. (Looking at Indianapolis, Kansas City, MO, Oklahoma City, OK, Columbus, OH and Memphis, TN) 

I would choose Columbus due to job diversity.  Can you give us an update on what you ended up choosing?

Hi All, 

I wanted to get some advice and bounce some ideas off of you. I currently live in Grove City because I commute to my job to Wilmington, Ohio. I own and rent a house in Raleigh, NC. Originally bought that to live in and rented it out to friends to move closer to family in Columbus, Ohio. Tenants are great and my house has already appreciated a decent amount!  I am considering buy a house in the Grove City area to live in for a couple years and then rent out. I'm currently paying $1130 in rent a month and I have money for a down payment and then some.  My only hesitation is that I want to move out west in 2-3 years. In your opinion, is it worth wasting money on rent if I have the capital to buy a house right now? How difficult would it be to manage the property with a property manager from afar? My family does live here in Columbus so I will be back a few times a year to check on things but I wouldn't want to burden them with managing my property unless is was absolutely needed. 

Thank you in advance! I really appreciate any advice or insight you can give me!

Look for markets with good job growth and also housing affordability. I like: 

Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, OK, Much of North and South Carolina, Savannah, Columbus, OH, Cincinnati, St Louis

The purpose of this event is to provide a monthly platform to connect with like minded local investors in the area. Based on the events I've attended in the Columbus area there seems to be a bias towards low-income rentals and events primarily full with people trying to solicit services or investors with many low-income cheap rentals not to say there is anything wrong with this strategy. 

I'd like to establish a forum for investors interested in or actively vested in good blue collar communities and higher end rentals for us to trade ideas and to learn from one another. 

I recently bought a single family home in central Westerville: 43082, the next deal I'm looking to do will likely be in a less affluent but nonetheless good community, I'm a fan of North/East Columbus ie. Reynoldsburg, Elmbrook and surrounding areas. 

I'd be grateful for you to reach out if you feel this is a community you would be interested in helping me to build.

WIth gratitude,

Nathan

@Brent Coombs, thanks so much for the feedback. I appreciate it and that's one of the issues I've been struggling with regarding this. A couple months ago, I wouldn't have even considered about 400K.

I guess I should explain my motivations a bit. I'm a professor at OSU and I run a consulting business as well, working about 3-4 nights a week. I'm honestly not sure how much time I can put into renovating a duplex that I can afford. That's why I initially looked into relatively finished duplexes. Ideally, I'd buy my neighbors place. If I would have purchased it three years ago, I could have covered that mortgage and $800 of my mortgage. But he was smart, didn't want to sell and probably gained about 15% in value during that period in addition to rent. Our places are a block from the short north in one of the most popular places in the city.

A couple weeks ago, I saw a house selling for 680k with a carriage house garage that rented for $1200/month. In the areas that I'm looking at, SFRs range from 430-700k. Things are crazy around here now. The SFRs that I can find without a garage (so I can build one with an ADU) range from 450-700k. I imagine that a garage with an ADU must cost 150k to build so the difference between that and the new build isn't that much. In addition, a lot of the new builds are getting a tax abatement for 15 years in central Columbus. At first, the price tag of the new build blew my mind but once I started running the numbers, renting out part of it would cut my mortgage to close to what I am paying now.

TL;DR, I don't know if I will have enough time to renovate a multifamily home, function as a landlord for multiple units and reap the benefits of cash flow. I think I would be able to manage a built in unit. In the end, I would like to move to a property that pays me something since that will go towards monthly mortgage and equity if not major cash flow.

Hi everyone, 

I purchased my firs time duplex last year in what I'd call a B- to C+ area of the Columbus, OH market. I've had at least 100 inquiries, but it's been difficult to find anyone that isn't a smoker, and has at least a 525 credit score. The unit was rehabbed last year with all new ceilings, carpet, etc. 

I've had a lot of interest from Section 8 tenants, and some of them have openly told me they're lying to Columbus Metro Housing Authority to get their voucher. They're working under the table, and wouldn't qualify for the "free money" if it were reported. I chose not to participate in that. But at this point, I'm considering Section 8 just to get the other side rented.

What would you guys do? It's been vacant for 8 months now. 

All, 

I currently own a duplex and a single family home in Columbus. As I make renovations to increase rents, I can't help but wonder whether we are heading for a crash in the market. With the transportation grant from the Feds, the new ENORMOUS metro park development on the West side, and downtown sprawling out further and further, it seems as if we are heading toward continue prosperity in real estate prices for some time to come. 

Can anyone think of ANYTHING that could hurt this market???? Asking for a paranoid friend....

Steve