Investing in Cleveland from Overseas

[Steven Laub]

I am from California and have been living/working overseas since 2005. While working in the Middle East in 2011 I was able to do a flip in California. Since then I became really engaged in my work getting several promotions and have recently completed my Masters but the only thing that holds my interest lately is real estate. I have been reading book after book and listening to Brandon and Josh every day. I purchased the plus account a few months ago so I could have access to the calculators and have been analyzing deals pretty regularly. In the past three months, I have come across three deals all in the Cleveland area. The first is a duplex purchased for 73k with a finished attic that is renting at 1700 per month and cash flowing after expenses with pretty aggressive expense estimates at 350-400 per month. The next is a duplex for 64k renting for 1350 again cash flowing at 350 per month. While my wife was out for a girls night, I was analyzing deals again and got another one at 59K duplex at 1300 per month cash flowing around 350 as well. I have been buying cash which helps close faster and then I am using the fanniemae delayed finance exception which allows me to refinance without waiting for 6mo to 1yr. I found this tip on one of the podcasts recently. So far this seems to be working well. 

After offering on the third it seems that my wife may have had enough of my action saying "stop buying houses" lol. I dont think I will be stopping. It seems that as long as the numbers work, I'm in. I am sure I can get to 10 cash flowing properties in the next year. 

One concern that I have is that I seem to be buying other investors properties who are cashing out on the equity they have made over the past several years through the downturn. It doesn't seem that I will be getting into the properties with equity but the cash flow is there. This is not a major problem but it does make me feel like I am not getting the best deals out there. On the other hand, I am doing this from 3000 miles away in Hungary so I am working toward the end goal of financial freedom. 

Steve