Newbie in Northeast Ohio

[Mark Lenox]

Hi, everyone. I am Mark Lenox, living in Valley View, Ohio south of Cleveland. After two decades in the Direct Mail industry, working my way up the corporate ladder to Vice President, I lost my job in late 2012. I am an entrepreneur at heart and decided to start my own company rather than relocate and continue to make other people wealthy.

Other than my own residences, I have no experience in Real Estate and none whatsoever as an investor and flipper. I have family who've been in real estate their entire careers, and it feels like a good fit. I read J Scott's BP The Book on Flipping Houses, and now I'm ready to rock and roll.

I'd like to rehab four properties this year and build the business to the point where I am making more money then I did as Vice President.

At BP, I'd like to find education, opportunities, networking with those in the biz, and most of all MOTIVATION.

[Christopher Boggs]

Welcome to BP and the Cleveland real estate investment market. A few tips

• There are many good opportunities in the Cleveland area, so be sure to take a look at a few before buying your first.
• Have your agent give you extensive MLS comps of flips in the area after you purchase a house. Use this data to make sure your renovation plan doesn't over improve the house. I made that mistake on my first retail flip, and we blew most of our profits doing so.
• Be careful of cities with Point of Sale Inspections. It is something that has become popular in the Cleveland's surrounding sub cities (not the city of cleveland). Sometimes its only on vacant (bank owned) properties, and sometimes its for all property sales. The city building department makes a reporting listing all repairs that must be done before sale. If the seller won't make the repairs (like banks). Then the buyer has to put cash in escrow until the repairs are made. The escrow amount is based on the potential cost of the repairs. They can make you: Put $10,000's+ of cash in escrow until the repairs are made, Hold up selling your renovated house until every last detail is fixed, and Worst of all they sometimes add new items that weren't on the original POS report.
• I am not familiar with Macedonia, but Twinsburg seems a bit expensive for flipping. Usually you can make more money flipping a couple cheaper houses than one expensive one. They sell faster, and you diversify your investments
• You need access to the MLS, because when the good properties hit zillow they are usually already under contract.