All Forum Posts by: Dave Poeppelmeier

If you have a 1/1 Duplex, you might not get the typical "Student Rental" bump in rent. Typically, when students rent off campus houses, they want to live with their friends. Not every off campus house is Party Central (some schools are, however), but the attraction is getting out from under your Parents and RA's thumb and live how you want to. But, with a 1/1 unit, you're going to most likely get a couple or some Grad students, which isn't a horrible thing. Be sure to check and see what other 1/1 duplexes are getting in rent, and see if you can talk to some students on Facebook groups or something and see what the demand for that type of unit is. 

@Christopher Sandys Wow, really didn't feel that was going to trigger anyone, but here we are. No, I'm not calling you a slumlord. I'm calling the person who owns the house that has holes in the floor and plaster falling from the ceiling on Loraine or the lady who was living with cockroaches so bad one fell off the ceiling and bounced off my head just off E Central. I can say that because I encountered that as a Home Care PT back in the day.

Also, being RRP Certified I can tell you that no, the paint chips aren't the main cause of lead poisoning in kids, it's the lead dust. The lead dust gets on the floor in front of the window, a toddler's toy gets dust on it, it goes in their mouth... And now you do have lead poisoning. And yes, this happens in more socioeconomically depressed areas because they still have the old windows, so on and so forth.

So, if you want to challenge the City on evidence to back their ordinance, go for it. Best of luck because that's what numerous people have asked over the years and have gotten nothing back from them.

It looks like the Toledo Municipal Court last week ruled in favor of the City and the injunction has been terminated. The next court date is July 13th, but it's not looking good in my opinion. The Appeals Court ruling during the last lawsuit is still the final word it's looking like: http://lcapps.co.lucas.oh.us/P...

What this Ordinance does is really force the slumlord owners to fix up their properties, if and when the City gets out of it's own way regarding testing and implementation. Nobody wants kids to get lead poisoning, and these owners do need to be taken to task. The biggest question is what timeline is the City going to give now that there are 3 deadlines that have passed (June 2022, Dec 2022, June 2023). 

If you're still looking to Invest here, the biggest things you need to look out for is peeling paint and lead dust. That means if you're going to buy a house with wood siding, be ready to paint it every 5 years since that's how long the Lead Certification Certificates (or whatever they're called) are good for.  You want something with some kind of siding: metal, aluminum, vinyl, or brick. You'll still have to paint roof trims, porches, etc, but that's not a big deal. Good luck with installing vinyl siding: it's ridiculously expensive right now. 

The other big thing to avoid are original windows with 5 layers of paint, half are painted shut, another quarter don't open/stay open, etc. Those windows are going to have a really hard time passing the dust swipe tests for lead dust because they are testing for an absolute microscopic level of dust, and if there's lot of paint on those windows, there's a good chance there's lead in there. If you have replacement windows (wood or vinyl), you should be good to go unless the house next to you is a peeling paint mess. Then, the lead dust from that house is going to blow into yours... yes that's one of the biggest complaints we as investors have with the dust swipe portion of this ordinance. 

 Let's also look at the price of land in Toledo, OH in 1945 compared to 1776: Exactly, it doesn't matter. 1945 may as well have been in 1776 in Toledo. Toledo and Ohio in general went from being one of the most important States in the Union (when the West wasn't nearly as developed as it is today), to it's heyday in the 50's and 60's when the nations steel and cars were made here, and of course the bottom falling out in the 70's and 80's, stagnation in the 90's while everyone regrouped, and the 00's, 10', and now 20's when these cities are thriving again. Yes, everyone's going to say "but they're losing population!!!". Yeah, those generations that stayed are dying, or moving out to the Suburbs as that migration pattern continues. 

@John Anderson You are correct in your general assumptions that coasts are appreciation and Midwest is Cashflow. What you're likely experiencing is this rediscovering of these markets from investors who see the same thing you're seeing: Good returns regarding boring, not sexy cash flow. Don't overthink it, if you're getting bonus appreciation good for you, but stick to the meat and potatoes of why you invested in Detroit and Cleveland in the first place. 

@Steve Williams, Student Rentals definitely command higher rents, but you really have to know what the geographical Student Housing areas are and the rental culture of the school. @Will Gaston and myself have commented lots on this topic, but I would recommend finding out who owns Student Rentals in your town and talk to them about what a 2/3/4/5 bedroom rents for, when the leasing season is (Fall vs Spring) for the next school year, and what do students expect (nice house like their parent's or bombed out party houses). Once you get that information, you can start to plan for making your rental Student Housing. One thing that I would recommend, is whoever you put in your rental, make the lease revolve around the Academic Calendar, starting in August or September. That way, if a non-student moves out, you don't have an empty house in January sitting empty until the next school year starts. Finally, put everyone on one lease. You don't want to rent by the room for a little extra profit and have 3/4/5 leases in a house, when you can have everyone on one lease that is responsible for everything as a group. As a group, if one person isn't paying their rent, they'll get on them so they all don't get kicked out! Best of luck to you.

That's a good idea for the House Hack, but I can tell you FHA offers are very difficult to get accepted right now, at least in Toledo. The DSCR loan is a great tool because it's looking at the income potential of the property, not just your personal finances. Now, you're going to pay for that in much higher rates that you'll get in FHA or even Conventional loans, but if you're willing to bite the bullet on that to get started, then it's a great tool to use. Best of luck to you!

This is tricky. We purchased a house with international students once, and they were trying to change people living in the house all the time. Eventually they didn't like me enforcing the lease, and they all just moved out. I also had another international student who was really nice, paid rent on time, but he texted me last week saying he had to go back to his home country in 2 weeks even though he signed a lease for next year. But, you can't discriminate against International Students and violate Fair Housing Laws. 

I agree with the personal meeting, it's the best thing you can do to vet them. Otherwise, that would be a good questions for a Real Estate Attorney in your area. 

 Hey Nick, Toledo is a good market to get started out in since our purchase prices in general are a lot lower than most areas of the US. $40k can get you started with conventional financing on a $80-100k SF house in a C class neighborhood and give you money for any rehab that needs done as well. One of the biggest things new investors don't account for is having reserves after you purchase and renovate (if you have to) a property. I may or may not have found this out the hard way. Just know that until you get up to 6-7 properties, the house will not likely "stand on their own". You'll likely be writing a personal check here and there to replace a roof, a furnace that suddenly dies, a tenant does something really stupid, etc. 

With that being said, as Snoop Dogg's dad sagely advised, "Snoop Doggy Dog, you need a jobby job!" You're not going to get approved for any kind of loan without employment, and they typically want 2 months of pay stubs. I also know what it's like to work a job you hate and just want to get into Real Estate, but Real Estate is a Marathon, not a sprint. It's great that you want to learn about investing and you're willing to take the time to do that, but banks don't care. So, I would suggest get another job and just keep listening to books, podcasts, etc. Let me know if you have any other questions. 

@Chris Wharton is my go-to, he's in Columbus but can lend all over Ohio. I deal with sub-100k properties all the time and his team has been fantastic. 

@Kevin Cullen great to hear that you want to get your Son set up like this. You're absolutely on the right track with the house hacking idea, I wish that idea was mainstream when I was younger! Here in Toledo, the inventory is tight right now, but if you're willing to put in the sweat equity, you can still find something that will work for you guys. I'm an Investor as well, let me know if you have any questions.