Advice on Duplexes in Cleveland, Ohio

[Ryan Evans]

Hello all!

I'm looking into some duplexes in Cleveland as my first ever property. I've been living around the world for a while, but I'm from Seattle so I'm not familiar with the market beyond the research I've been doing in the forums and such. 

For whatever reason, there are quite a lot of duplexes in Cleveland for sale. They seem to be renting for 500-750 per unit and they're selling from 10k on the really low end. I would love to be all in on one for 20-25k cash and bring in 1000/mo as a buy and hold, but that seems way too good to be true. I feel like I'm missing something.

Does anyone have experience in the area with those sorts of units? Are they easy/hard to rent? (Obviously, depends on the neighborhood and I know there is a good amount of crime)

I could fly out to buy/live there for a while to get it fixed/rented since I'm taking a break from work. It would be ideal to be hands on for my first deal.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

[Ryan Evans]

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.