All Forum Posts by: David Terbeek

As an agent I can't give opinions of good and bad.  I can tell you that our clients are currently buying in Collinwood, Cedar/Lee, most of the westside and all of the suburbs.  I have found

http://www.city-data.com/ to be a great source of information about cities.

Most properties around the Cleveland area require a CO and/or a Rental Registration/License.  It is a criminal offense that the cities prosecute if you fail to register.  Check with the local building department about all of the nuances as different areas are certainly different in how important it is.

@Craig Conte  There is a row of buildings on Superior that were in states of severe disrepair.  It is nice to see that someone has spent the resources to rehab some of them to this level.  You are closer to Cleveland Heights than you are to East Cleveland but it is still in East Cleveland with their schools.  There is a lot of strong opinions on that city on Bigger Pockets, might be worth reading up on it.

@Bhavik Patel  Good advice from @Federico Gutierrez about eviction and turn over costs. I wanted to throw out a different consideration about low rent units in general. Our experience has shown that repair costs are a higher as a percentage of income. For example, the cost to replace a furnace in one of these units is not that different from a SFR generating 1,100 per month. In this building that furnace is 4+ months of rent, at $1,100 rent, it is less than 2 months rent. Add to that the fact the tenants seem to create more "wear" in the lower rent units. The number might not look as rosy at first but the real return is usually better the higher the rent per unit.

@Nicholas Abramo.  Section 8 is great in that the tenants do tend to stay a little longer and getting paid each month on schedule is great.  The downsides are that it takes a few extra weeks to move your tenant into the home due to the initial contracting & inspection process and the program inspects the home once per year requiring repairs each time.  Locally, the program tends to overpay in the city and underpay in the suburbs.  Given the tradeoffs we are indifferent to renting to a Section 8 tenant.

@Linda Labbe is correct.  Cleveland area still have a great rent to price ratio making (real) cap rates in the teens a reality without investing in higher risk areas.

I would second the Cleveland area.  Check out both turnkey and hybrid turnkey providers that give you a little more control over your investment but yield the same quality results.

I am frequently asked if I have a tax accountant to assist foreign investors in filing all of the proper tax returns including Federal, Ohio and local municipalities (Cleveland area).  I am looking to make contact with an accountant that I can refer to these clients.  Please let me know if you can refer me to anyone.

I sent you a PM @Patrick Hiti

Sounds like you already have a pretty solid plan.  When you look for agents and loan officers, be sure that they understand the nuances of working with investors.  It is a bit different from a traditional retail purchase.