All Forum Posts by: David Terbeek

We deal with 4 different water departments around the Cleveland area, all are owned by the city.  In each case, the water bill follows the owner not the occupant.  A good chance this applies to you as well if the water co is owned by the city.  All of our owners have the accounts in their own name and we back bill the tenants for the charges.  (yes, there is a theoretical way for tenants to start their own account with a deposit but the agreement says that the owner of the property is STILL responsible in the end so why exhaust the effort to try to get the tenant to actually do it)

Ohio Eviction and Landlord Tenant Law is a highly recommended resource for a landlord, it is a huge book that covers almost every scenario and cites case law.  It seems that there is conflicting case law on the subject of turning off water when the tenant is responsible.  We err on the side of caution, partly because the courts around here are tenant friendly and just pay it.  In fact, we would owe it afterwards anyway so might as well just get it paid now.

These are all pretty good areas for rental.  The government inspections are difficult but they also keep the prices a bit more affordable due to the extra complication.  Garfield Heights and Lyndhurst are the easiest to work with in terms of inspections.  Maple Heights has been difficult in the past, there is some new management that might loosen restrictions a bit in the future (maybe not).  Bedford does not have POS as noted above but definitely come down hard on the rental inspection to make up for it.  All have pretty good rental demand.

Disclaimer, not an attorney and this is not legal advice.
We do not allow residents to be at security deposit walk throughs for security, we do about 30 per month.  We are not aware of any law that requires that.  Likewise, you should be able to return it in any fashion possible as long as you have documentation that she received it (Venmo should have a record in lieu of a cancelled check).  Be sure to send a letter as well explaining any deductions and/or just that 100% was refunded via Venmo.  Ohio is specific as to what you need to do but doesn't get into details of exactly how.

Following.  We had the same concerns here in Cleveland.  There is chatter about the courts wanting to put moratoriums on evictions for a period of time which will create a host of additional issues.  Currently monitoring the situation and working the management team on options but nothing firm yet.

Disclaimer, I am not an attorney, you should seek qualified legal advice...  We do not require last month rent at our firm because it is not the norm for our market but we inherited a lease that had that provision.  As I read the statute, I do not interpret pre-paid rent (ie last month's rent) to be the same as a security deposit.  Pre-paid rent and security deposits have very different rules and handling so it would be our position that we do not need to pay interest.
In the case of deposits on utilities/trash I would think you are much closer to and probably are holding a security deposit and you should pay interest if they put you over 1 month of rent.
Regardless of our interpretation, we actually decided to pay interest in the above situation to avoid the potential for legal costs (1 hour with an attorney exceeded the interest), BBB complaint, hours of staff time arguing about it, bad online reviews or any of the other various things that happen when a resident doesn't like your answer.

I will be interested to hear other people's take on the last month being used before eviction.

@Shuai Zeng, @Steven Taylor .  Steve is correct, suburbs in Cleveland that end in Heights do have city point of sale, rental inspections and some higher taxes.  However, I see it as those barriers to entry are what depress the prices, therefore making the investment still potentially lucrative.  Be sure to do your homework and work with the right team that knows how to navigate.

An LLC in of itself probably doesn't have any inherent liability unless you are actually own a property or employ staff or contractors to do work on your behalf which is what ultimately creates your liability, operations. If you just chartered it and are just in the process of looking for a property and it takes 3 or 6 months to close on the first one what risks are you ensuring? Once you have a property under contract be sure to get insurance by the day of closing (not sure why some investors wait until after closing as I have witnessed a couple of issues within days of the close) and Joseph's suggestion of an umbrella policy is always wise too. Talk to your insurance agent to be sure.

If I were to equate real estate to the stock market, Cleveland is more similar to a dividend stock than a growth stock.  You can expect solid returns on a monthly/annual basis and a small increase in value.  Most markets have not come back to the 2006 peak.  If you are looking for cashflow it is an ideal investment, if you are speculating on big appreciation gains it might not be the right move.
I am a bit surprised by and will look into the American Community Survey cited above since our clients that purchased in '12-14 have sold some of their holdings for 20-50% gains in the last 2 years.  Perhaps we just helped them purchase the right properties but I wonder about the survey's methodology

Andrew-  Glad to hear you joined.  If you PM me your email, I will get you hooked up with the group that was trying to start the Ohio chapter.  Perhaps you can help breathe new life into it.  If you happen to be going to the confernce in a couple weeks, let me know and we can hook up down there.

Legally the PM must have a license and work through their brokerage.  I know that some people do side deals and "manage" things on the side so those people are out there.  We usually hear about them when they fail to execute faithfully for their client and the client wants to change to us (missing money, repairs not being handled, poor tenant screening).  The law doesn't have any provisions to get around the license.