Looking for a good realtor in the Cleveland Ohio area

[Matt Littlepage]

Hi All,

I am new to Bigger Pockets and am amazed with the amount of knowledge and information here. I am an out of state investor looking at the Cleveland Ohio market. Can anyone recommend a honest go getter realtor? 

Thanks in advance!  

[Brian Garlington]

@Matt Littlepage

I know what you're going through man. I own rentals in the Bay Area and I now own some in Cleveland. I am originally from Ohio (Columbus) and live now in Oakland and i can tell you that things run a LOT different in Ohio than out here. I still remember calling agents in Ohio and telling them I am interested in buying investment property and not getting call backs or emails. 

Truth be told, there were several here on BP that I reached out to about buying in Cleveland and/or doing property management that simply did not want to be bothered because what i was looking for was under $75,000.

Don't let it discourage you. Things changed once I got preapproved by a lender that will lend on properties that are under $75,000. I was able to tell agents that I am preapproved and if they didn't call back then those are not the ones you want to work with anyways.

With that being said, if you want to PM me I will let you know who I worked with out there. You may find it interesting to note that I talked with someone that is in Southern California that does a lot of investing in the Cleveland area and he was actually on a BP Podcast last year and when I spoke to him by phone he told me who does his Property management out there. When he told me who it i I found out that same company has agents so i looked up some things on agents at that company,....had a couple of good solid conversations with him and I flew out to Cleveland, checked out their offices and met him....he showed me some properties and we ended up writing some offers. I have found he and his company to be very knowledgeable.

If you want to PM Me I will tell you the name of the agent. (Spoiler Alert, He is an agent for Holton-Wise and he is very professional, prompt, owns several rentals himself and does a lot of business with out of state investors).  Like @James Wise alludes to, there is a VERY different pace to the way things are done in Cleveland, compared to what we are used to in California, but the results are undeniable in Cleveland. You lay out less capital to buy in Cleveland and between the 3 properties I have out there now (2 duplexes and an SFR) I am getting just over the 3% rule on 2 of them and just over the 4% rule on the other one. These are properties that are in "C" neighborhoods......be patient with the Ohio people my man.......whoever you work with......and when the money comes in you will see it is worth it