Anyone know the cleveland ohio area?

[Gerald L.]

What is the going rate for a rent in this area? i'm seeing 500 for a 2/1. Where is the bad areas? where are the good areas?

Gerald

[Christian Carson]

You can make a fortune in this city if you know what neighborhoods are vibrant communities and which ones give this city its undeserved bad reputation.

City neighborhoods: Invest in Ohio City ($1000+ for a 2/1), Tremont ($800/2), downtown ($1500+/2), Little Italy ($900) (but you'll have to marry the owner's daughter to get title to any property there!). There are some depressed but stable speculative neighborhoods out there like North Collinwood and Detroit Shoreway where houses can still be had for $20k in rentable condition but they need to be watched if they go vacant. Houses in those areas will rent for about $600.

Suburbs: Cleveland Heights (east of Little Italy/west of Coventry Rd fetches $1200+ for a half-duplex; most other places fetch $900), Lakewood ($650-800), University Heights ($750-900), Willoughby (not sure about rental values here).

Those areas are all that I would consider. If you buy property in these areas, you will pretty much be guaranteed a steady stream of good-quality renters and very few crime problems. Be wary of buying on the outskirts of these neighborhoods. Some simple improvements like adding gated offstreet parking can significantly increase rental values in the areas within the city.

Section 8 is also an option here. The Cuyahoga Metro Housing Authority pays $783 for a 2bd voucher and the waiting list is long. This is a tool to be used in the depressed areas--local property owners in the nicer areas might not think of you highly if they find out you are accepting Section 8 in their neighborhood. Take that with a grain of salt.