All Forum Posts by: Andrew Duna

Hi Sergio! Section 8 is a great strategy here in Cleveland. As per the advice of James Wise - investing in section 8 in the Clark Fulton area is a great idea because you get reliable rent in a neighborhood that has a lot of room for appreciation considering Metrohealth has committed to investing a billion (with a B as in boy) to the area. I am an investor focused agent here in Cleveland and can recommend some good connections to the other parts of the team you are looking for. A lot of local lenders will be willing to do loans under $100k and just like @Shane Kelly mentioned-- @Muhammad Amawi is a great lender to talk to. 

Hi Luka- Congrats on the closing of your first SFR here in CLE! I think choosing between the different options really depends on what your actual end goal is.

Considering you'd like to end up BRRRing-- there is no time the like the present to get to know that game. Plus then of course you will be able to recycle that cash. I am an investor focused agent here in Cleveland and I would love to connect to better understand your goals. 

Hi Ben! So yes, as other have also mentioned-- the typical minimum down payment for an investment property is going to be 25% down. So knowing this and your down payment - this would be a house hack- at which point breaking even and living for free is a pretty sweet deal. To answer your question with regards to other investment properties- yes. Most Cleveland properties in "rental neighborhoods" will cashflow with 25% down. 

A few things I would add. The amount of closing costs on your house hack property are going to surprise you. It's typically going to match the cost of the 3.5-5% down payment so just be mentally prepared for that. A good strategy you might consider if you plan on continuing to invest in real estate is finding a property that has sat on the market for a while and maybe needs a little work. In this case-  you can submit an offer where the seller covers your closing costs and you'll have a chance to get your feet wet with renovations- either by doing them yourself or gaining experience interacting with contractors. 

I'm not sure how you plan on qualifying for a property. If you will have a W2 once you graduate then a conventional lender will work great. But if you go into any sort of sales job or self employment then make sure to talk to some "private" lenders because you'd be surprised at the different ways they can get you qualified- and although the interest rate on these unconventional loan products might be a little higher... its a lot better to pay an extra $100-150/m towards your own equity rather than continuing to pay $800/m in rent for 2 years while you wait to become conventionally qualified. 

If you'd like help with any of this then I'd love to connect as I am an investor focused agent here in Cleveland. 

Hey Bob- imo it really comes down to putting in the time and budget for finding off-market properties and having the patience to follow up. How do you typically find these properties? 
 

Hi Dylan- did you ever find an agent to show you around? I was born and raised in Lakewood and my team did $12 mil in sales specifically helping investors place their money here in Cleveland

Hi Nathaniel - I am an agent with Premier Cleveland Investing -  our group did $12 mil in sales last year helping investors just like you navigate the CLE RE market. I would love to chat anytime

Hi Cassandra, Starting out in RE investing can be overwhelming with all the available info and ways to invest. You definitely want to first get pre-approved by a lender to understand what your buying power is. After that I would urge you to think about the kind of experience you want to have, the returns you are looking for, and of course how that correlates with your budget. 

The experience you are going to have (typically) correlates with the return you might expect. So if you are investing in a cheap area with high returns then you could expect a higher maintenance tenant whereas if you invest in a more expensive neighborhood then you may not get as high returns- but your tenant pool and overall experience could be a lot better. Cleveland is great because there are a lot of "happy medium" neighborhoods that will give you a pretty good return with a pretty good tenant.

Once you understand what kind of balance you are looking for then you can start looking for properties in the right neighborhood and start making offers with an inspection contingency so that if something does happen to be severely wrong with the property- you can back out of the deal. 

If you'd like help with choosing a lender, picking a neighborhood, evaluating certain properties or making an offer- then I'd love to chat as I am a local, investor focused agent. 

Hi Anthony- I think it really comes down to understanding the type of investing experience you want to have, the returns you are looking for and of course how that correlates with your budget. 

The experience you are going to have (typically) correlates with the return you might expect. So if you are investing in a cheap area with high returns then you could expect a higher maintenance tenant whereas if you invest in a more expensive neighborhood then you may not get as high returns- but your tenant pool and overall experience could be a lot better. Cleveland is great because there are a lot of "happy medium" neighborhoods that will give you a pretty good return with a pretty good tenant. 

Once you understand what kind of balance you are looking for then you start looking for properties in the right neighborhood and start making offers with an inspection contingency so that if something does happen to be severely wrong with the property- you can back out of the deal. 

If you'd like help with picking a neighborhood, evaluating certain properties or making an offer then I'd love to help.