New Investor from Cleveland, OH

[Darius Burgan]

Hey everyone,

I'm Darius and within the next 7 days, I should technically be a real estate investor (closing on a duplex in Bedford, OH - a suburb of Cleveland). So, I thought it's about time to stop lurking and make a post.

I was born and raised in Cleveland in D & F neighborhoods (with some C neighborhoods mixed in). I've spent most of my life hanging out in Cleveland, East Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Garfield, Bedford, Maple, Warrensville, and Shaker. So if you're looking at buying in those cities, I might be able to offer some insight on if the house is located on a rough street.

I'm purchasing the duplex as a "house hack" to test the waters on being a landlord and play around with a few offline business ideas (like landscaping). I'm mostly a digital marketer on a day-to-day basis, so I stare at a computer screen all day.

If I like being a landlord, I'll try to purchase at least 1 property a year going forward  (preferably multi-family but I may do single family since there's a lot more inventory available in my preferred areas).

So even though I feel like I know some of you already from reading your post (particular those who comment on posts about the Cleveland market), I look forward to chatting and learning more about real estate.

[Bryan Blankenship]

@Darius Burgan Welcome aboard, sir! I've done a lot of deals around Cleveland, most recently in Bedford. It's a great idea to start out where you KNOW the neighborhoods and the values from a lifetime of living there! That's what I've done and it's my PASSION. I went all over the country before deciding that Ohio will always be the place for me. I love the MidWestern feel where you can go live on 25 acres but only be 15 minutes away from some amazing food and entertainment (plus the cost-of-living benefits, obviously). 

Good luck! It's not easy to start out, and you'll make a lot of mistakes, but you'll learn valuable lessons from them and grow and do better and better with each deal. Just be careful investing in those lower class areas that you mentioned unless you plan on spending a lot of time and effort on maintenance and tenants! :)