All Forum Posts by: Andrew Weiner

I tend to agree with most everyone's comments here.  I would encourage you to take a trip to the market you plan to invest in and tour some houses in the neighborhoods that you are looking at.  There are many aspects of the properties and neighborhoods that those of us on the ground can explain but it does not compare to the insight from seeing them in person.  Even if the units you tour aren't the one you eventually buy, walking around the area and getting a feel for the property types will help you be a much more informed consumer when you are ready to pull the trigger.  Good luck on your investment journey!

People will argue both sides.  In that area there aren't a lot of owner occupants so I don't think that's a much of a consideration.  Some buyers don't want your tenants who may or may not have been screen properly but some buyers like the attraction of having income on day one.  Since you will have it on the market sooner vacant I think that would be my preference going into winter, if it were closer to summer I would put tenants in.  

I dont want to get into a whose rent is bigger than whose competition, I'm sure you'll win.  The section 8 approval amounts are inconsistent in my experience.  My understanding of how section 8 works is you request a rental amount and then they tell you how much they approve?  We always request a higher number and they knock us down.  Do you have a "secret sauce" to get them to pay something different than what their calculators approve?  

We dont have any section 8 houses in Beachwood but in Shaker we have seen closer to 1650 (owner pays water and sewer).  The challenge with section 8 is that they put it into a calculator and whatever it says is what you get.  Sometimes it's great and sometimes it's less great.  They also take the closest comparable rentals, so if it's far into beachwood or closer to highland hills/cleveland also will move the determination.  

If you are local check up on your contractor regularly.  If you are not local make a point to come in and check on your contractor.  Also spell out as much detail as possible in your scope of work with the contractor, you cannot assume that they are thinking the same thing as you when it comes to finishes and material choices.  

An agent that works in the Greater Cleveland suburbs regularly should have been asking about it.  I would normally ask for that before I put in an offer or the offer.  Some sellers only pull the POS after getting an offer so they don't get stuck with the repairs by the city if they don't end up selling, I'm not a huge fan of this but it does happen.  Even in this case I would still know that prior to putting in an offer.  

If you aren't local I would suggest coming in and doing an in person inspection of your properties.  You will be able to understand the real condition and how many more big repairs may be coming your way (or not).  Also depending on the price that you got the properties plus your investment you may be in a positive equity situation that you can take the money out in the future.  

The challenge in the older home markets is that every one of the homes has some deferred maintenance, its just a question of how much.  I have seen it before where someone fixes everything and then out of frustration passes it along to the next guy who can then go years without any major repairs.  Its very tough, if not impossible, to know if you are exiting right before you get to the light at the end of the tunnel.

This isn't common but we have had the following happen: former tenants, boyfriends/girlfriends staying after the lease holder left, family/friends of a neighbor in a multifamily situation, former owner or owners family after a foreclosure.  Like @Verna Littleton said, if you put in cameras and don't leave it sitting you won't have a problem.  

As a local manager we don't come across true squatters very often.  The more common issue is someone who is related to the property staying over and having to go through an eviction.  On the handful of times we have found someone in a unit we have threated to call the police and it has generally worked, they would need to show something that ties them to the unit (mail, utility bill, or lease) for the police to not get involved.  

In the event that you do have a true squatter its a fairly standard eviction process which is unfortunate but does happen in this business.

On a preventative note if you have a vacant unit you can put in a security system that uses cellular and you will get notification if anyone comes in.  If you get the police immediately then it should be easy to get them out as trespassing or breaking and entering.