All Forum Posts by: Johnathan Norman

I've purchased with them. Small apartment complex. My feelings about HW are mixed.  

At a high level the purchase process went well but i haven't been thrilled with property management. Their contract has less favorable terms than others and the quality of PM hasn't been great. They seem to be growing at a fairly rapid rate so I suspect much of this is related to growth pains. 

they do generally have solid deals and are easy to work with during the purchase process. 

I invest in multiple markets, including Cleveland and i'd say it is ok depending on what you're trying to do. Cleveland is great for cash flow but if you're a national investor other markets offer greater opportunity for appreciation. 

@Chris Martin has a point however. James is naturally going to be a bit biased in this matter :) 

so the school district sent a complaint to the county saying my property should be valued at double the previous value. Obviously i'm not eager to increase my tax burden. Anyone here handle something like this in the past? Not sure how this process works in Ohio. 

this is an interesting idea. How did you make this work as a remote investor? did you just hire someone locally? 

I am buying a house that is from a wholeseller and so the contract is between him and the seller and he is assigning it to me at closing. 

Normally when i buy properties i pay the title company for title insurance, title check etc... but in this case it is a bit different. How does the title process work in situations like this? 

what size deals are you looking at?

thanks everyone. Quite a few people reached out to offer funding which is far more than i expected . 

Cheers

I purchased a small apartment complex all cash at a nice discount about a month ago with an empty unit and all tenants on a month to month lease. The new unit is leased at a higher rate and i'm on track to raise rents in half the apartments in the next 3 months.  

I love the idea of taking some money out and doing another all cash deal soon. How long do banks typically want you to wait before doing a cash out refi on commercial deals? 

You know how Bellevue compares to Seattle? Parma is like that for Cleveland, just smaller and closer. High incomes, nicer area etc... i would say it is an A/B type area. But i personally don't like focusing solely on A/B properties mainly  because I'm mostly focused on income. I find that C type areas often yield tenants who stay for long periods of time.  The property has just purchased has 1 tenant who has been in the building for 20 years and many who have been there for 10. 

I do feel Parma is a great area to purchase a single family home if you get it at the right price and you are focused on equity growth. Brooklyn/Old Brooklyn is not far and some areas are not quite as nice but it is also an area that has potential. 

Also if you can find a deal in Tremont that is reasonable you should consider it. It is the trendy new spot for all the hipster types. .. once again comparing to Seattle think Capital Hill. 

But as I said before i would strongly encourage anyone who invests to visit first. Get to know the area and the people. When you tell them you're an out of town investor make sure they know you plan on taking care of whatever properties you buy etc... 

i'm up for coffee in a week or so. crazy busy this week. just send me a message. 

p.s. Cleveland folk.. please don't take offense to my descriptions.. and feel free to correct me :) i was only there for a week. 

I can give you my impressions. I flew out to Cleveland to check the area out, meet various realtors, property managers, etc.. this included Holton-Wise. 

I just closed on a small apartment complex with them and they are managing the property. So I can't speak to the quality of property management yet. 

In general Cleveland is seeing a lot of outside investment. Money is flooding in and it is changing the town quite a bit. In my meetings with residents most were optimistic about things and felt good about their jobs etc. This seems to be supported by data i was able to gather from various sources on unemployment, job growth, etc..  BUT incomes in the area are quite low compared to other cities in the US and the city feels like it is finding a new identity.  The city is separated  by east/west with West is often considered safer and a better investment. People often don't cross from one side to the other from what I'm told. I however drove around and felt fine.  

As an investor I think you have to look at the job growth and how sustainable those jobs will be. Will the jobs created today be there in 10 years and how will the pay change? The biggest employers are hospitals, universities and some financial services companies i think.

As for Holton-Wise... they are very aggressive so I can understand why you might have the "scam" concern.They have only been around for 2 years or so. Most of the team seems quite young and hungry. This shows because you see their signs all around town. I had a brief meeting with James Wise and he certainly was not lacking in confidence and clearly knows how to sell. My agent (Anthony Aviles) was a bit more measured and was very thoughtful. He was responsive but not pushy and gave me good feedback throughout the process.  I'll likely use him again to purchase another complex after i stabilize my recent purchase. It was a smooth transaction etc... If i was to sell anything , like ice to a Eskimo.. or a property, I'd probably run to James :) 

I would suggest that if you're serious about investing in the area you get out there and shake some hands. Talk to the people who live there and get to know the area a bit before investing. This is also helpful because if you do have a problem with a management company like HW you can have a backup ready to take over. I certainly do :)   I'll try to remember to post a review of their management service 6 months from now

Every prop management company i spoke with charges roughly 10% of gross rents for apartments. 

If you want some other options I'd talk to Adam at Lokal if you are doing single family.