All Forum Posts by: Daniel Volk

I'm interested in the area solely because of what Metro Health is doing. I'm pretty excited to see what happens. Gordon Square had some serious revitalization and is now a great place to be.

I purchased a property with cash under my personal name in December and would like to transfer it to my newly created LLC before getting tenants in. Assuming that is the best way to proceed, do I need a lawyer to transfer it? I think I found the correct form on my county website (Cuyahoga County, Ohio aka Cleveland). I'm just wondering if it's usually pretty straightforward and easy enough to do on my own or complicated and difficult to do correctly.

Thanks

@David Williams I'm not familiar with that exact location but be aware that Cleveland Heights has point of sale inspections which I have heard discussions on BP about causing lots of problems. You can make the seller take care of POS violations if there are any but it may make you look like a less desirable offer.

 Not sure how you each created your maps, but Ben's map is different than yours. It has a nice Google Maps layer option

The property is in Woodland Hills and while it may add some value, the retaining wall quote came in much higher than what a garage would bring in value. If I don't fix the retaining wall, the garage will be a hazard and may fall soon anyways, so I plan to demo it. 

@Andrew Postell that is helpful, thank you. I'm still trying to find the best place to ask questions here because there are so many topics.

I am closing on my first duplex which needs some work, but I'd like to get an appraiser's opinion before I put too much money into the property - I want to appraise as high as I can while leaving as little of my money in the deal as possible when I refinance. The neighborhood I'm in has a wide range of sales prices and no good comps for me to compare. I am specifically thinking about a two car garage that either needs taken down or some significant work to keep it (full roof replacement and retaining wall repairs immediately next to garage which is causing one wall to lean). I haven't gotten quotes yet (would like to DIY some of it), but if fixing the garage won't increase the value of the property in any significant way, then it's not worth me putting any additional time or money into it.

Long story short, I'm looking to get an opinion from an appraiser in Cleveland who knows the neighborhood to see if keeping the garage adds enough value to the property.

@Arihaun Gibson There's a few ways to do it if you don't want to pay for the BiggerPockets Pro membership. The BP analysis tool has 5 free trial uses and it gives you a good idea of what to look for. Brandon Turner has multiple thresholds for being a good deal: MINIMUM $100/unit cash flow and 12% return on investment. These are not the only things to look for but give a good starting point After testing it out a few times you could try to make your own spreadsheet if you're good with that sort of thing. There are also a number of free online websites that help you calculate NOI, ROI, and other metrics but they aren't as user friendly in my opinion.

For me, I am not investing any of my own money so even if I am barely meeting the minimum, it still could work in my favor.

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.

@David Flores @Nicky Reader

This particular seller wanted to get rid of the property and be done with it. I've asked a handful of other sellers and found that asking for seller finance limits options severely so I have been avoiding it for the time. It is a D class neighborhood but the house is in fairly decent shape. After inspection, we found some potential issues and negotiated the price down to $18,000. Now we are set to close in a week. I think my plan to refinance with a bank loan after purchasing, fixing and renting out will work out. I have several banks that have offers like this available. Many good alternatives listed here though.