Apartment Short Term Rental Investor (Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati)

[Wesley Larkin]

Good day everyone and Happy New Year!

My name is Wes and I'm new to the BiggerPockets community. I've been listening to the podcasts on and off for about a year. I've done some research on my own outside of BiggerPockets and I think it's time to take the next step which is what brings me here to the BiggerPockets website.

After listening to one of the webinars I found out that I'm that person that is fired up, ready to go, but unsure of where to go and how to start. One thing that I now know that I need is to find a niche and focus on the next baby step on accomplishing that niche in my markets.

My market is currently the Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati region in the great state of Ohio. I grew up in the Dayton region and know the market there pretty well, but one of my concerns is meeting the niche for that market.

The niche I'm currently looking to focus on is finding apartments in those three areas that I can focus on and then subletting those apartments or using them as short term rental properties. I'm currently low on funding as my finances and credit score is currently recovering from a recent divorce. I would love to purchase property and start renting, BUT I believe focusing on apartment renting and then subletting would be a good first step as I would only need to focus on rent, electric/gas, water, and internet. The profit from these short term rentals would in turn help me pay off some debt and focus on saving for a bigger investment.

One step I've been focusing on is possibly opening my LLC and then using that to lease these apartments. I've heard that I can use my EIN to apply for an apartment instead of using my own SSN. I've also heard that after receiving my EIN I can open a business checking and savings account. From there I would plan on pursuing on obtaining a small business loan to help furnish the apartment and possibly pay for the first few month of rent.

If anyone has done this before and can share any guidance that would be super helpful!

I'm excited that I can join a community of like minded individuals and hope to hear from some of you. If you don't have any suggestions and would just like to say hello please comment and introduce yourself. Would love to hear from you.

Respectfully,

Wesley Larkin

[River Sava]

Hi Wesley, 

Welcome to BP and Happy New Year! Sounds like you have a solid plan to work through the speed bumps. Curious the size of the apartment building you are looking into unit wise...