LF Lakewood Ohio Duplex House Hack - Price Insanity

[Dan Mahoney]

Hello all,

Vet looking to buy a duplex in Lakewood with VA loan and house hack for two years. I like Lakewood, I'd like to buy here. Been looking seriously for over a year, and the pricing and competition is outrageous. House after house, I see people paying over 250k, (now closer to 300 for some mid north western ones) for duplexes that pull in $1600 / $1800 rent for both units combined, while paying 5k a year in property tax to boot!

They sell in hours of being listed, often multiple offers, though only a quarter are cash. Nothing decent lasts a day.

These are generic run of the mill 900 sq ft Lakewood duplexes with cosmetic rehab Painted white Home Depot cabinets and the grey wall white trim paint job, microscopic bath rooms, often maintenance issues, etc that sold for 135k three / four years ago.

Can someone please explain to me what the heck is going on?  For a single family I get it, it’s home, it’s for your standard of living, kids, school.  These duplex prices, though I just can’t seem to make the math make any sense, as the rents do not (seem to) support these high 200k sale prices. 

I'm not trying to make a killing but I feel like I'm dumping 40k down a hole if I jump into one of these multiple offer situations, which almost every single one is, and it'll set my ROI back years.

Any enlightenment would be amazing and sincerely appreciated. I am baffled and frustrated.