Investor seeking advice in the Cleveland OH area

[Junior Soares]

I'm looking for my next deal in Cleveland and was wondering if anyone that has any experience investing in the Cleveland area or anyone that lives in the area would give me some of their opinions on the Shaker Heights Area 44120. would you classify this area as a C class? I'm looking for a decent area in Cleveland with an all cash budget of 30-60k. I am very open to hearing from all of you, primarily those invested in the area. with an all cash purchase, I'm very content with a 9-10% net ROI. Also looking for a good home Inspector and property management in the area. any and all recommendations would be very much appreciated. Best, Junior

[Kristopher Hanks]

@Junior Soares

I am an out of state investor and I own homes in Cleveland. In fact I own one in the 44120 zip code in the Mount Pleasant area. From first hand experience, I would have to say listen carefully to what everyone is saying to you in this thread. I have had some success and some monumental failure investing in this area (paid for my education), basically. I have two houses under contract right now that I am selling. Long stories behind both of them. They started out great and went down hill very quickly. 

You should listen to @James Wise on his youtube channel and listen to what he has to say about the different neighborhoods. A lot of experience being shared on that channel. 

My house in the 44120 has turned out to be a very good investment overall, but it has come with a lot of work to get it there. I also scored the house, for less than the cost of the lumber to build it, from a very tired Australian real estate investor, who was just done with being a landlord. If you consider investing in a neighborhood like the Mount Pleasant area this is the only way, in my opinion, to make money in a rough neighborhood. Buy very very cheap and rent for less than the surrounding rentals. But, I DO NOT advise it when you can get quality homes in quality neighborhoods for reasonable prices. The better neighborhoods come with higher rental rates to make up for the higher cost of the home. 

I am in the process of moving my investment money from Cleveland and going into Euclid. I would say that is the place to start looking. I am going to keep my house in the 44120 only because it is performing very well right now. I would avoid Skaker because of their POS rules. Their escrow account rules are ridiculous in my opinion. Find a nice house or duplex in Euclid that is POS compliant and collect the cash every month. 

My very humble $0.02.