Investing in Toledo, Out of State, Visiting August 17th and 18th

[Kevin Smith]

Hello everyone. I reside in San Diego but will be visiting Toledo soon and have some free time August 17th and 18th to explore and look at potential single family home investments to hold and rent. I would also be interested in a duplex or fourplex if the right deal came along. Any advice or recommendations for my search/visit is greatly appreciated. Looking for positive cashflow on a total initial outlay of $50k or less. Thank you!

[Christopher Abele]

Hi Kevin,

I live in Maumee (Toledo Suburb.) I'm not an active investor yet; I've only recently gotten my wife onboard with the concept and we are currently in "save & learn" mode. Meanwhile, I've been exploring the market. 

Do you have a target zip code? Low interest rates have allowed people to increase their budgets which has driven up housing prices quite a bit. Couple this with the moratorium on foreclosures and most distressed owners are just sitting on properties. I have not found Zillow to be a great estimate on rents for SFHs, either. I've found that it tends to overstate rental rates for this area. 

The other issue you will run into is special assessments for taxes. Pay close attention to these as some areas have really high taxes that will eat into potential profits. The school districts tend to draw boundary lines that you might not see in a zip code search that will have strong impact on actual property values. You can literally have two streets running parallel where the neighborhoods differ in home values by 20-30% (per sq ft.)