All Forum Posts by: Rob Gillespie

Hey Chompunut, 

I would NEVER give a deposit!

I can tell ya the good and bad in town if ya want to message me. Dont want to promote or slam folks on public forum. 

I have worked with a TON of those guys in NE Ohio,. they are a different breed, LOL

That would have been cool to go to if I was in town. Depending on how many ya get showing up, I may be interested in coming out. I could speak on the pros and cons of investing in Ohio when ya live 3k miles away. 

We have meet ups here in Cleveland if you are ever in town.

@Mark Crutcher

Hi Mark, 

I refer my buyers to a lender that charges up front fees, but ONLY after they are approved. I actually had a buyer not get qualified at the end of the process once and without asking, the lender gave him his money back. So it is not uncommon. 

With that said, the "scam" part of that question is the 4% rate. That seems VERY low.  In my opinion one of a few things are causing that. 

1. They are REALLY strict on credit and income of the borrower and there are some back end fees in there. 

2. They are doing a "Loan to Own" which means they lend based ONLY on the property in hopes the borrower will default so they can take the property. 

3. They advertise a 4% rate and take up front fees to only raise the rate before the closing.

4. They are really inexperienced and justify 4% is quadruple bank returns. 

Any way you look at it, just make sure your  deposit is refundable if you choose not to take the funds or do not qualify .

Good luck mark!

Hi Tim, 

We offer financing on all of our Cleveland Turn Key properties. There are some really inexpensive private money lenders I refer some of my investors to as well. feel free to PM me.

If you choose to visit Cleveland, I wold suggest wearing 5 layers of clothes! The only thing hot about Cleveland are the deals! LOL

Good luck!

1. Do you provide appliances to your tenants? Do you believe it is your responsibility to provide appliances to your tenants? We provide them if they came with the house, but disclose if they break, it is on the tenant. they are there a bonus and not part of the rent. 

2. How frequently do you have to deal with evictions?Personally, I try to work it out with the tenants. I instruct the managers to communicate with them and worst case is I pay them the eviction fee to move out. I have been to eviction court probably 5 times in the past few years. We deal with quite a few rentals. 

3. How frequently do you have to deal with late monthly payment? frequently in the innner city. not much in the burbs. But we get late fees and we do get the majority of the rents. 

4. How many tenant fix calls do you receive a year per house on average? depends on the house and tenant. We have an on line form they need to fill out. I fell if you take the "easy button" away, it will eliminate many of the calls that could have been avoided. 

5. How much do you have to spend on average when a tenant moves out? Typically about a grand to bring it back to looking sharp, but we will work deals with the new tenants sometimes to do their own painting to save money on security deposit or prorated rent.

Hope that helps. 

@Erin K. I live near wooster! Ya do not see that town pop up much on here!

anyhow, I do not think you can take ANY ranking that goes street by street 

as an accurate source of info. People move all of the time. I have bought on great 

streets and next thing I know, someone moves in on the street and changes the entire culture. 

I find if you buy on streets with more owner occupants and not a lot of multi units, you can really 

have a fighting chance of it being ok. 

I always tell my investors if you REALLY wanna know a street, go on the first of the month on a warm friday evening, you will see what a neighborhood is all about. 

If someone tries showing you a house on a rainy Sunday morning..... watch out! LOL

Just my 2 cents. :-) 

@Colleen Arends would love to connect. Cleveland is my sandbox! Partnering would depend on deal and arrangement, but always good to know people!

@Roy Ben Welcome to BP! and Maybe welcome to Cleveland!

I invest there, that is a very open ended question. 

there is good and bad about every area. 

I do some burbs, and some inner city. 

Its all good with the right buy!

I know my answer was weak, but  best I can do without knowing your goals. 

Hope to see ya in my town soon!

@Helen Zhang I cant argue with facts on declining population, but I can tell ya that there is not a shortage of tenants whatsoever! If you run an ad for just about any type of unit or house, your phone will blow up!

Just my experiences. :-)