MTR potential in Garfield Heights, Oh

[Shrey Shrivastava]

Hello Wonderful People!

Me and my wife bought a property in Garfield Heights, Oh in Dec 2022. We currently have a LTR tenant there till Feb 2024 and have a professional PM managing the property. I wanted to try MTR for that property after the current tenant moves out but I have been looking for folks, who have tried MTR in that area before and learn from them on the potential revenue it can generate for MTR. 

Also, it would be great, if you guys can share some tips on how to analyze MTR potential for a property. This is our property -13217 Havana Rd, Garfield Heights, OH 44125
So far I went to furnished finders for stats on number of listings. There are total 56k listings and 240k page views. Not sure if these are good numbers. 

https://www.furnishedfinder.co...

Any advice on analyzing potential would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Shrey

[Nicole Heasley Beitenman]

Have you tried looking at MTRs on AirBnb and FF and looking at current/future bookings?

[Todd Jones]

The challenges are location and competition.

Is the property located near a freeway or hospital? I’m very familiar with Garfield and I see that as a big challenge as a person can pay $50-$100 more per day and get a modern suite downtown or near the water.

Speaking of, the competitive locations decorate their home extremely well. Silver and pine, flower arrangements, motivational quotes in the kitchen, arcade, etc. You’ll have to have your place very nice to compete with them.

I’m very interested to hear what others think.

[Brandy Rollins]

Quote from @Todd Jones:

The challenges are location and competition.

Is the property located near a freeway or hospital? I’m very familiar with Garfield and I see that as a big challenge as a person can pay $50-$100 more per day and get a modern suite downtown or near the water.

Speaking of, the competitive locations decorate their home extremely well. Silver and pine, flower arrangements, motivational quotes in the kitchen, arcade, etc. You’ll have to have your place very nice to compete with them.

I’m very interested to hear what others think.

 Agree with this 100%

Garfield is excellent for LTR but it’s not close enough to anything cool to really have a draw for MTR. Boring working class neighborhood with mid restaurants and no amenities. Might be a tough sell but always worth a try.

Also agree that you’d need thoughtful finishes and decor choices to be competitive with other cleveland MTRs. 

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Shrey Shrivastava:

Hello Wonderful People!

Me and my wife bought a property in Garfield Heights, Oh in Dec 2022. We currently have a LTR tenant there till Feb 2024 and have a professional PM managing the property. I wanted to try MTR for that property after the current tenant moves out but I have been looking for folks, who have tried MTR in that area before and learn from them on the potential revenue it can generate for MTR. 

Also, it would be great, if you guys can share some tips on how to analyze MTR potential for a property. This is our property -13217 Havana Rd, Garfield Heights, OH 44125
So far I went to furnished finders for stats on number of listings. There are total 56k listings and 240k page views. Not sure if these are good numbers. 

https://www.furnishedfinder.co...

Any advice on analyzing potential would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Shrey

just rent it for 12--1400 a month assuming its a 3 - 4 br, 

[Darryl Jolly]

This might not be a bad idea since there is a hospital not too far from Havana. This can be a great niche for traveling nurses. Also, the highway is not too far as well as shopping, etc. 

[Todd Jones]

Quote from @Darryl Jolly:

This might not be a bad idea since there is a hospital not too far from Havana. This can be a great niche for traveling nurses. Also, the highway is not too far as well as shopping, etc. 

I had that theory as well. It isn't far from Ahuja as well. Another selling point is multiple traveling nurses can stay in one home

However, traveling nurses would most likely go to the various living places closer.

Close shopping is a definite benefit. 

[Shrey Shrivastava]

@Nicole Heasley Beitenman I did try looking at MTRs on AirBnb and FF. Current/future bookings on FF at-least doesn't seem too promising to me but I do see quite a few listings near my property, I have tried messaging some of the existing listing owners. Let's see if they come back to me!

[Shrey Shrivastava]

@Bob Stevens It is a 3 bed 2 bath house. I have rented it out for $1250 right now. Was wondering if could get more profit by trying MTR next year.

[Shrey Shrivastava]

@Darryl Jolly yeah, was thinking the same. Thank you for the input!

[Shrey Shrivastava]

@Todd Jones appreciate the honest opinion! I see what you mean. I did see a lot of MTR listings are cluttered around Cleveland. And regarding the hospitals, I see that there are 3 hospitals near by but they are like 2-4 miles from the place. I am not sure if thats too far to traveling nurses and agreed on the very nice place to compete with. It is an out of state investment for me so I will prob fly there and decorate it before putting it out on FF or bnb. I am trying to contemplate all the ways I can milk out more profit out of this. This is my first ever investment so still learning!

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Shrey Shrivastava:

@Bob Stevens It is a 3 bed 2 bath house. I have rented it out for $1250 right now. Was wondering if could get more profit by trying MTR next year.

 I would not even try, You will than need a staff ( cleaners, leasing agents, )  for all your move in and outs, NOT easy finding reliable help in Cleveland. Also, you will need to spend about 10k on furnishing. So at the end of the day are you really making more ? If so is it work all the extra work? 

I am assuming you are all in not more then 100k so your return is ok, 

[Nicole Heasley Beitenman]

Quote from @Shrey Shrivastava:

@Nicole Heasley Beitenman I did try looking at MTRs on AirBnb and FF. Current/future bookings on FF at-least doesn't seem too promising to me but I do see quite a few listings near my property, I have tried messaging some of the existing listing owners. Let's see if they come back to me!

We're in a similar boat. The frustrating thing is that it's hard to see what places are getting booked unless you look really far out because if they have bookings, they aren't going to show up in searches. I hope you get some responses!

[Bonnie Low]

Hi, @Shrey Shrivastava. To answer your question, 2-4 miles is not too far away for travel nurses and other medical professionals. You'll find most travel with a car because that's how they're moving from city to city and packing up their belongings they take with them so as long as you have parking available onsite, the distance from the hospital won't be a problem. You might try calling the HR department or recruiter at those hospitals to see how much they're using travel meds - some use them heavily, others not so much. That will give you your first clue to demand in your area. As for renting rooms in a shared space, this is my least favorite strategy. Don't get me wrong - it works for some people but here's what I find based on many, many comments from travelers on various forums. There's this assumption that lots of travel nurses travel with friends and get contracted together. This is rarely the case so you're managing each guest separately. You need to have people who are compatible together in the home. Male/female mix can be a problem though isn't always. The biggest issue is when they don't work the same shifts. The hours they're active in the house vs sleeping hours are going to clash, which is why the vast majority prefer their own space. You'll also be dealing with individual move in/move out dates which means turns will most likely happen while the house is occupied with other guests. This makes cleaning much more difficult and, again, you need to work around the schedules of your other guests. Lastly, people who share a house expect pretty cheap rents. So it may not end up penciling out for you. With a larger home I'd probably target other niches like digital nomads working with families, insurance placements, relocations, academic assignments, etc. One more thing, your furnishings really do matter. You won't be competitive without good amenities and attractive decor - especially in a crowded field. Whoever said $10k for furnishings is vastly underestimating the cost of doing it well. While you can occasionally score a find on places like FB marketplace, I strongly recommend you go with new, quality furnishings. $5-10k per bedroom is a good rule of thumb for furnishing an entire house. You'd be shocked how much everything adds up. 

[Shrey Shrivastava]

@Bonnie Low Thank you for a detailed response and suggestions! It is good to know that 2-4 miles is not too far away for traveling nurses. Orthogonal to Garfield heights, we are planning to sell our primary residence and get a new one in Seattle (most likely a split level) where we can properly house hack and rent out the lower floor and live on first. This information will be helpful for me and calling the HR department or recruiter is a good suggestion! I might do that. Point taken on the rent my room strategy and the renovations cost as well, thats why I want to find out the ways to analyze it for rental potential and then see if numbers will make sense.

[Shrey Shrivastava]

@Bob Stevens point noted. Yeah, I want to analyze the MTR rental potential and run numbers by it. I bought the property for $119k with 25% down and 6% IR. Pure cash flow is around $50. Rental started in Feb of this year so far have not made any profit on it but willing to hold it and see how it plays out. Wanted to explore MTR potential to see if that is something we can explore.

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Shrey Shrivastava:

@Bob Stevens point noted. Yeah, I want to analyze the MTR rental potential and run numbers by it. I bought the property for $119k with 25% down and 6% IR. Pure cash flow is around $50. Rental started in Feb of this year so far have not made any profit on it but willing to hold it and see how it plays out. Wanted to explore MTR potential to see if that is something we can explore.

 I would not even try it, Do the numbers, you will need to spend another 10k n furnishings, 

[Travis Andres]

Quote from @Brandy Rollins:

Quote from @Todd Jones:

The challenges are location and competition.

Is the property located near a freeway or hospital? I’m very familiar with Garfield and I see that as a big challenge as a person can pay $50-$100 more per day and get a modern suite downtown or near the water.

Speaking of, the competitive locations decorate their home extremely well. Silver and pine, flower arrangements, motivational quotes in the kitchen, arcade, etc. You’ll have to have your place very nice to compete with them.

I’m very interested to hear what others think.

 Agree with this 100%

Garfield is excellent for LTR but it’s not close enough to anything cool to really have a draw for MTR. Boring working class neighborhood with mid restaurants and no amenities. Might be a tough sell but always worth a try.

Also agree that you’d need thoughtful finishes and decor choices to be competitive with other cleveland MTRs. 

Hey Brandy, just came across this post… we’re considering Cleveland as a possible Market to invest in, can you recommend any of the cool neighborhoods you were referring to? Being out of state it’s so hard to determine where the cool areas actually are.
thanks!