All Forum Posts by: Ryan Evans

I'd always recommend flying out, especially if it's in a lower priced market, which it presumably is if you're looking at turnkey. You've got a lot more to lose buying the wrong property than spending a few hundred dollars on flights and an AirBnb for a weekend.

First of all, welcome to the site! It's a cash flow market here for the most part. There are cases where you can literally buy a property for a dollar, so without knowing what part of town these properties are in it's tough to say what investors are willing to pay. Cleveland is block-by-block in a lot of parts of town. Though, a lot of the mid-class neighborhoods you can still buy for 40-60k a unit. 

You obviously won't be able to control the big life changes that tenants face or even things like them outgrowing a property. But I think being a decent landlord goes a long way in keeping tenants around. I have several tenants that stick with me because the bar is so incredibly low for landlords in my area that just by providing a safe, clean, and maintained apartment, I'm doing better than most landlords and they all know it. 

I sometimes will make small preemptive improvements that keep me in good light with my tenants and, importantly, add value to the property for the next turnover. For example, if I come across some cheap cabinet pulls that are nicer than the current ones, I'll ask the tenants if I can come to install them. I would have done it on the next turnover anyway, but they'll feel looked after and appreciate the little things. 

Can I say for sure that they'll stay longer because of things like this? No. But I know they won't be trash talking me to the next landlord for being neglectful when it does come time to move. 

If you set your uncle up in East Cleveland you're going to have some awkward Thanksgiving dinners after he loses several million dollars! 

I don't think this was mentioned yet, but getting an estoppel certificate signed off by the tenant might help with a couple of your lease/deposit issues. 

I'm always telling investors operating here to expect that tenants will move out or will need to be evicted when they buy it. It seems getting legit leases is rare, and tenants who aren't on a real lease are easily spooked when a property sells.

I don't mean to be a downer here, but deals like this don't work like you expect them to. If you're working the sub 50k range, you're going to have a ton of deferred maintenance, problem tenants, and most likely a bunch of move-outs or evictions if and when you get the properties. 

Properties at that price point are probably going to rent for 650ish in good condition. And you're saying the portfolio will cash flow 7k/month??? I hate to break it to you, but that's just not going to happen unless you pay cash. And if you don't know the difference between NOI and cash flow, you're probably not experienced enough to take down 22 units without losing your shirt.

Again, not to sound harsh, but a lot of people lose money here doing things like this. It's easy enough to buy a double on the MLS that will cash flow a few hundred bucks a month, so it might be wise to start with something more manageable.

@CJ M. It does look like there is some good stuff on the site. I work in tech so I'm overly aware of websites in need of a redesign, but I'll have to dig into it further.

First I've heard of it, but I did some searching and the Mr Landlord guy seems like he's been around for ages and has some good reviews on another thread on BP. The website is awful so it's hard to know much about the convention, but it could be worth investigating further. 

Are you talking to local lenders? Most lenders in Ohio that I've spoken with have loan minimums around 60. There are some with far lower minimums like MB Financial as well. I think they'll go down to 30k, but they have some interesting criteria. I can't vouch for MB being any good, but I have spoken with them.

I've met a couple of people who have dealt with that issue, which is potentially a big one, but I don't remember it being all that expensive because they went the route of having helical piles installed. Maybe you can get a couple quotes from people who specialize in doing that and if you're out of cash, maybe the buyer will take a price cut to cover the difference?