What do you think of Maple Heights for a rental investment?

Question

Hey,I'm looking to buy my first single family house for investment in Maple Heights city.All I know about this city is that the tenants are class C, the home value around 55k and can be rent for around 950/mo.Can you give me some advises:1. From your experience, the tenants over there are OK?2. What neighborhood is prefers?3. Someone told me that for the long run (10-20 years) this place is going to be like East Cleveland, what do you think about that?4. There is POS, annual registrations, inspection every time tenants replace, which impact on the ROI, do you know about any other suburb or in Cleveland itself that could be better for cash-flow investor? (I'm not willing to invest in Class D or F like East Cleveland)Thanks,Moshe

Stacey Mollinet · Answer

I just sold a single family house that I had rented out for 9 years in Maple Heights because I couldn't get and keep good tenants there. I had 5 evictions over the past 9 years there. Evictions are hard on properties and they always need more work than after a paying tenant. Evictions are expensive, losing approximately 5 months equivalent of rent in lost rent and needed rehab each time. That's 2+ months rent because they first get behind and then you have to go through the process of evicting them, plus legal fees, then some time for rehab because they always need more than normal, then you have to rent it and wait for the next person to move in. My least expensive eviction on this property cost me the equivalent of 2 1/2 months rent. My loss average over the five evictions was the equivalent of 5 1/2 months rent each. When I was debating on whether to sell it or try renting it again, my property manager told me that Maple Heights had been turning over from owner occupied homes to more of a rental city. There are so many rentals available now that rents have gone down because of competition. For a 3/1 SFH, I was getting $875 rent just before I sold it, which was a drop from $925 a few years ago. If you can get and keep good tenants, you could do well. My best year was 2013, when we had over $5000 in profit that year and no vacancy. My worst year was two years later in 2015 when we lost over $5000, including an eviction and unexpected expenses from heavy rains and a flooded basement. The money still works on paper. You should be able to make good money on a rental in Maple Heights if you had normal tenants with a normal vacancy rate. Screening and patience waiting for a good tenant is worth it. My experience though, is only making $300 over the 9 years after taking everything into account including slight appreciation and holding costs while it was listed for sale. Good luck, @Moshe Cohen.

James Wise · Answer

Welcome to the site Moshe.1. This is a C-Class area. For more info on what that means check out The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods.2. C & B Class.3. I don't think so. E Cleveland is very distressed. Maple is closer to Garfield Heights.4. Many of the eastern suburbs have POS. Cleveland Heights, Euclid, S Euclid, Garfield Heights. On the west side Lakewood has them as well. Cleveland proper & Parma do not.

Emerich Herbst · Answer

I have several properties in Maple Hts. Great rental area. Prices are going up. Close to freeways and shopping. Everything is close for the tenants. I've had rentals there for over 10 years. I place good tenants have have little turnover. Most of my tenants stay 3 plus years.

James Wise · Answer

44102 is gonna swing have some D class stuff as well as some C class stuff. The zip code is also going to have some top level A grade stuff...New development, gentrification etc...The price you the properties your looking it should make it abundantly clear if your in the C/D part of the zip code vs the A grade part. All & all I think it's a good bet. Way things are moving over there that C/D stuff may turn into A grade stuff down the line just like the current A grade stuff did.

James Wise · Answer

If your walking the street or looking at video or google earth footage of said street it's pretty hard to miss a new house vs a 100 year old one....Furthermore you can check the comps. You'll see new development over there above $200k+ with the old beat down stuff sub $100k.

Moshe Cohen · Answer

WOW guys you are awesome! thanks for the warm welcome :) @James Wise Thanks for the help, the neighborhood guide is really helpful!! what do you think about investing in zipcode 44102? between ohio city and lakewood? It's should be class C, right?@Tom Ott Thanks!@Stacey Mollinet Thanks for searing the information and I'm sorry to hear about 5 evictions that you had... you said that your best year was 2013 and you earn 5000$, how much you rent it for? how mach you earn in a year with an evictions? and how did you scan your tenants? do you know what was the mistake in the scanning process? Thank you!!

Tom Ott · Answer

You can find good and bad tenants ANYWHERE. It all comes down to the screening process. If you are picky in an A area and a C area then you can still land good tenants. Maple Heights is a good area for rentals. The prices have actually been increasing recently, maybe because Amazon is moving is next door or some other reason. I would say it already hit its low and is climbing up, so no I would never compare it to East Cleveland. You'll find POS in most of Cleveland's suburbs that are worth investing in. They are almost unavoidable around here. You'll most likely have to register your rental in any city around here, even if they do not have a POS.Good luck!

Tom Ott · Answer

Prices have gone up, rents have gone up, but the same can be said about all of Cleveland. it is a good thing because the entry point in Maple Heights is still low.

Jonathan Shahak · Answer

Hi guys,Thank you for the information!What do you think about the neighborhood these days?Thanks!

Bob Prisco · Answer

@Moshe Cohen buy as many as you can. We used to provide ALL IN, 25, 30k,, ,3 4 years ago. now good luck if you can find one all in 55k,,,,,, IMO only going higher.Good luck