All Forum Posts by: Ryan Evans

@Antonio Guimaraes I could write a book on what I've learned about investing here and I'm still new at it. But one thing I'd say is to assume that everyone is lying to you about everything until proven otherwise. Except maybe your home inspector and attorney. It's especially true for contractors.

I do have a team together, but now I only share info with people already under contract, those who own property, or my clients. The unfortunate reality is 9/10 people never take action and will gladly waste my time and the time of my contacts, which damages the relationships I've spent years building. That's a lesson I don't need to keep learning. 

I've had success with GPL tax and accounting. They're a real estate geared company and I believe they're somewhere near Redmond. 

Is this an on-market property? And where is it specifically? 

One month is reasonable if it's a decent property, but it's probably not just based on the numbers. Like @John Koster said, it all depends on the neighborhood, the team, and maybe most importantly then tenants. You should assume high turnover and have an extra line item for evictions and the associated turnover costs if you're venturing into the lower end of the market. 

The short answer is yes, too good to be true. 

I think regarding the car situation, you should open up that conversation with your lender. Having another credit inquiry and higher car payment could largely affect what kind of house you're able to buy and when. Meaning, keep your debt to income low for the sake of getting better terms on a mortgage. If you do have to buy another car, consider buying something cheap in cash that can hold you over for a year or two if you want to prioritize real estate. A good lender will advise you on how to organize those other pieces of the puzzle so you can be in the best position to buy real estate.

Keep in mind that unless you get a rehab loan, any repairs you make will be out of pocket and that's money that you could use to invest in other properties. A lot of people in your position would buy a move-in ready house with an FHA loan to minimize their out-of-pocket expenses. Then, use what is left to buy an investment property that you can add some value to. If you were single with no kids then I'd say be more aggressive and buy a live-in rehab project, but that's probably not a great option.

I think you get the idea by now that it's too good to be true. You need to spend at least 50k to get something half decent. If it's under that, I'd let the locals handle it.

Wow, I'm glad this thread got bumped because that was one of my first posts! For anyone interested, I executed on that plan shortly after the post as an eager and naive 25-year-old. I flew to Cleveland and bought a duplex for $24k not having a clue what I was doing. I fixed it up doing about half of the work myself and I put about $12k more into it. Now, it's paid off fully, worth about $65k, I self-managed it from the west coast and it's brought in over $40k in gross rents cash flowing about $800/month. Since then I've bought several more duplexes and a couple of singles. It's had some tenant drama, one eviction, and plenty of unexpected expenses. Though, it's been a far better education than any book or course on real estate.  

Those days are long gone. For the out of state people who think they can do those numbers now, you're dreaming. It's a very different market. Especially on the west side. Doubles get bought immediately if they're any good and often it's with cash offers. Inexperienced out-of-state investors have flooded the market and are overpaying so it's not as easy to buy as some people think. @Josh Gregory I think between Ohio City and Edgewater there is still plenty of opportunities, but depending on how conservative you want to be, you may have to overpay or buy something less desirable and wait it out. 

The area my properties are in is considered a rough area by many, and I agree to a large extent. They've also appreciated over 30% since 2017, so if you know how to navigate it you can do well. For example, I bought another duplex recently for $40k, put 10k into the first unit and rented it in a week for $865. Gotta find a niche and own it!

 @Cary F.

All I can say to everyone is do your homework. California investors looking at Cleveland are a dime a dozen and usually what you are told is too good to be true. You're not going to just find and finance a bunch of duplexes in good shape for $50k in decent areas that are renting for $700/unit, then sit back and collect your cash flow. That's not how it works, regardless of what all the wholesalers on Facebook tell you. If you think you've found that deal, the locals have probably already passed on it because they know how to filter out all the junk. 

I don't mean to sound negative, but I just want to emphasize that you really need to do in-depth due diligence here!

I agree that it makes sense to have policies in place to give landlords long-term recourse and support to families who have short-term circumstances that prevent them from paying rent. However, this is far from what the government is working towards. The city effectively decriminalized all drugs and petty crime. Police aren't even arresting people shooting heroin on the sidewalk in downtown. Petty crime like property vandalism isn't often prosecuted. They're blaming big companies for the housing issues and homelessness, but the government has increasingly poured money into solving the housing issues while making it exponentially worse. It's pretty bad.

They've proven that implementing these kinds of laws doesn't work because landlords always find a workaround. Then the tenants are the ones who ultimately suffer. One would think that after repeatedly trying something with disastrous results, they might change their approach, but that's not the case, unfortunately.

Yeah, I'd say you're getting close. I've had a few friends buy 3/1.5 houses in the last year in C+/B- areas of Cleveland and Euclid for 50-80 that need maybe 5k into them. Often they've been MLS deals that they lowballed and got $10-15k off asking price. The 3 beds have rented for $1100 give or take and have a pretty strong tenant base.

I'd save a bit more. You're typically going to need to put 15-20% down on a single, plus closing costs, and your bank will want to see some reserves. But you can buy a decent house in a decent neighborhood for the 70-90k range. It's not going to be a home run but if you're just going for maybe $150/month cash flow in a c/b area then it's not too difficult to find.