First Time Real Estate Investor

[Carlos Ruffo]

Hi, I’m Carlos. I’ve been thinking about getting into real estate but have been having a couple concerns before buying my first property. 

Current Situation: I am trying to househack a house in Cincinnati as I have 4 people who have agreed to live in the property that I buy. I am looking at going up to 400k for context.

Concerns:

- All of the multi families I have seen in Cincinnati are really old and would need a lot of work. As a first time buyer, I don’t think I have the skill or knowledge yet to make a purchase where I’d have to put in a lot of work

- If I buy a 5 bedroom single family, I am worried that once everyone moves out, it will be hard to find people who would want to rent out a 5 bedroom as well as I’ve heard they’re harder to sell in general. 

- I moved to Cincinnati ~2 years ago for work so I don’t know what areas of Cincinnati are relatively safe and would be ideal for renting out in the future because ideally I would want to keep this property long term and use it as a rental property.

Any suggestions would be amazing. I am new to this and I also feel like I’m being held back due to being worried I’m making a wrong choice maybe because I’ve never purchased a property before… idk but would love any input! Thank you in advance! 

[Samuel Diouf]

I would start with a turnkey duplex that has been renovated. Get a 2 or 3 bed and rent out the rooms to your people. If they move out, you can rent the vacant side to a tenant quickly, as the rental demand in Ohio is very high right now. 

I can send you a graded map of Ohio that will help with determining the areas.