Expanding to Columbus, Ohio - Looking to Connect!

[Charles Masten]

Good afternoon BiggerPockets family,

I hope everyone’s 2025 is off to a fantastic start! Reflecting on the past year, I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunities I’ve had and excited for the journey ahead. 

In 2024, I focused on the Charlotte, NC market, completing 21 deals in my first year of taking consistent action. These included cash buys for flips, seller financing, and subject-to deals. For those just starting out: keep taking consistent action and small steps. Momentum builds over time, and I promise things will start falling into place.

This year, I’m expanding into Columbus, Ohio! My wife and I plan to purchase a few properties ourselves, but with the lead generation strategies I’ll be implementing, I expect to come across more deals than we can personally handle.

That’s where you come in! I’m looking to connect with other investors and buyers in the Columbus area. Whether you’re looking for creative financing opportunities or cash deals, I’d love to bring you potential deals that align with your goals. I’m actively working on agent outreach and direct-to-seller approaches and would love to collaborate or learn more about your investing criteria.

This community has been such a tremendous resource for me, and I’m eager to give back by helping others find great opportunities in Columbus. Let’s connect, share insights, and grow together!

Feel free to reply here or DM me—I’d love to learn more about your investing strategies and see how we can help each other succeed.

Wishing you all a successful and prosperous 2025!

[Robert Ellis]

Quote from @Patrick Drury:

@Charles Masten
If you are just jumping into the Columbus market I recommend areas like Hilltop, Linden, Eastmoor/ Whitehall, and Franklinton. These are areas where you can cash flow in Columbus because the rent-to-price ratio is favorable. Out of these areas, Franklinton and Linden are seeing some of the most developments. With things like the ONE Linden plan in Linden, which is a 50M plan to improve the neighborhood. Of that 50M, 25M was allocated for the construction of a new recreational faculty that has since been completed. Franklinton has been seeing lots of developments like the completion of Gravity Phase 1 and phases 2 and 3 on the way. As well as coffee shops like Bottoms Up Coffee are moving in and small microbreweries like brew dog and Land Grant.

 I wouldn't touch Franklinton with a 10' pole on the existing inventory side. gravity 2 is being auctioned and sold by the developer the area didn't support office developer lost millions:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/12/19/gravity...

linden I agree on if you can get a good deal. super fast appreciation. small homes, close to downtown, you can look at year over year and it's going up fast but also fast to change. any urban adjacent neighborhood is going to be good. 

I also wouldn't touch hilltop with a 10' pole. struggled. old homes, over budget renovations, lots of issues. realtors push people here since it's the only place cheap houses close to downtown can be good but homes are 1900-1920. I use to tear down dozens of homes here and in Franklinton that almost blew over. not a lot in linden since they are built after 1945 and without all the major issues. 

Eastmoor and whitehall are good too because of newer home ages after 1940 where you don't have knob and tube wiring and some of the other issues. don't be afraid to look at new construction or ground up new builds closer to downtown. rentals are overpriced in these areas but build costs are low and it can be a good strategy