Getting Started in Cleveland

[Jason Mahon]

I am brand new to Real Estate and looking to get started in the Cleveland Area. I was born and raised here and feel much more comfortable getting started locally. I have been trying to consume as many podcasts/articles/forums and books as possible to educate myself and get prepared before I jump in. I think I have a solid plan to get off the ground but I will need to figure out how to execute it:

1. Buy a distressed property in the Shaker Heights/Beachwood Area and do a "live in flip". The more distressed, the better because luckily we won't have to actually live through the flip. It will need to be our primary residence for several years to avoid capital gains tax.

2. Make small improvements to the home that we are currently in so that we can rent it out. The home is in Mayfield Heights and is completely paid off.

3. Take a HELOC out on that home and execute the BRRRR Strategy in East Side B-Class Neighborhoods (or wherever we can find value at our price point).

I realize that these things won't happen over night, but the plan is to slowly establish a foundation that I can start to build off of as my experience grows. I was a little apprehensive about posting but I want to get involved in the discussions and start interacting with people that have successfully pulled off what I'm looking to accomplish. Any tips or advice for someone getting started would be much appreciated, but I ultimately just wanted to start posting in this Cleveland specific forum.

[Jason Mahon]

@James Wise

James - Thanks for taking the time to provide advice for starting out. I think the welcoming culture and the sharing of knowledge is my favorite aspect of the biggerpockets community. If I was smart enough to invest in real estate when I was single and just out of college, this would have been the perfect strategy to get my foot in the door. With a 1 year old at home, my wife shot this idea down immediately when I casually brought it up after learning about "house hacking". I just listened to your pod yesterday and it sounds like you were in a similar situation with your first home purchase so I'm sure you understand haha. The other form of house hacking that is frequently discussed is the "live in flip". I really like the idea of buying something distressed and forcing the appreciation into it through renovation. We are fortunate enough to have a situation where we are living for free (minus taxes and utilities) so we wouldn't have to actually live through the flip and can wait to find the right deal. I'm really hoping to find one relatively quickly but I might have to temper expectations due to a competitive market. I signed up for your "daily deal" email yesterday and was wondering if these are typically turn key opportunities or if you guys also deal with properties that are good candidates for the BRRRR strategy? Again I appreciate you taking the time to respond and really enjoyed pod 127. All of them are good but it was great to hear from someone doing it locally.

Jason