All Forum Posts by: Arihaun Gibson

I am also a new and local investor in Cleveland. I am set to close on my first property (duplex) in Woodland Hills very soon and am very excited! I looked at local banks, online lenders, and hard money lenders to get started. I didn't have enough saved up for a down payment because many lenders want 20% or more. I ended up taking a personal loan to purchase the duplex for cash with some extra taken out for rehab - this ends up being a similar high interest rate like a hard money lender. I'm not sure how this will turn out, but I expect to BRRRR it and refinance to a better rate. Your credit will help you get better rates regardless of what option you take and you may not get the best loan rates until your credit is >740.

Welcome to the team Arihaun. You’ve come to the right place for real estate investing, there are many investors and brokers here with a wealth of knowledge and experience to offer about the business. You can avoid massive headaches and costly mistakes through some of the advice and experience on here, there’s plenty of pitfalls we made that you can avoid by reading and asking questions.

Cleveland is one of the best turnkey market and the most popular for investors because of high rental demand and low cost of entry, property prices are pretty inexpensive here. With that said, you have a great advantage that you live in Cleveland and it's easier for you to find the right real estate agent as well as going and checking the property yourself before buying it. I would still take a look at the Cleveland Price & Neighborhood Map . That map can still give you a good idea of where you should invest and what properties you should stay away from. Good luck!!

Hi, Ben! Thank you for your input! Can I ask how you source out your properties? As in when searching for a property to purchase what resources do you recommend using? (Auction, Website, etc.)

Welcome Arihaun! From what I've observed you shouldn't be worried primarily about the funding. The most important part will be the deal. Hard money lenders(since that's more than likely what you'll be using) are more concerned about the asset itself since that is what they will be lending on and taking away from you if you are unable to pay so they want to make sure it's a good deal first and foremost so they can still make money. Don't get me wrong they might charge you extra points and higher interest for having no prior experience but at least you're getting the money necessary for the deal and rehab. If you want to avoid some of that headache maybe partner up with someone that has an investing track record that the HML will feel more comfortable lending out to.

But good luck and welcome!