Newbie investor in Cleveland, Ohio!

[Andrea Thurau]

Hello Bigger Pockets!

I am a newbie investor in the Cleveland area and am hungry for knowledge! I have returned to the Cleveland area after attending grad school in Pittsburgh, PA (don't hold it against me) to be closer to family. In June, I moved to Cleveland after a 6 month trip to South America. While working in a hostel in Medellin, Colombia I met a fellow Bigger Pockets member who told me about the site and I have been hooked since! I am back in the states and I am ready to return to work and dive into networking with like-minded investors. I am in the end stages of getting my real estate license for direct access to the MLS and working with investors in the future.

 My current goals are to focus my energy on buy and hold multi-family rentals in the Lakewood, Oh area. I hope to buy my first investment property in the next 6 months where I will house hack and gain some landlord experience. I am looking for peers and mentors who are willing to share information about our wonderful city of Cleveland, Ohio. Looking forward to hearing from fellow Clevelanders, it is great to be here!

Andrea

[Timothy Murphy III]

@Andrea Thurau

You're welcome. I have several west side based clients that are very partial to the Old Brooklyn area / 44109 zip code. That's within Cleveland proper city limits on the south / west part of town, near Parma. @James Wise is very active on these forums and I believe he operates very heavily within that area. Personally, I'm partial to the North Collinwood neighborhood around the Waterloo arts district area on the east side in the 44110 zip code. I also some clients that like the ethnically Slovenian area around E 55th / St Clair / Addison in the 44103 zip code, though admittedly this is probably a "D" caliber area with lower rents, more blight, lower property values, etc. I'd steer clear of this type of area until you're more experienced unless you have some other particular advantage that would help you overcome the additional risk.

Some of the inner ring suburbs (including Lakewood) are popular on both the east and west side areas, though you'll have increased regulation from the suburban municipality government and increased property tax burdens to deal with.

Since you're local, I'd deploy capital in an area you are (or get to be) familiar with first hand, and use that list I provided as a starting point for areas to familiarize yourself with.