All Forum Posts by: Eric Martin

Hey Melissa, fellow Southern-Ontario investor here. I've been speculating the markets in the Midwest for some time now and recently decided to make a post on BP to attain more insights from people who live & invest in these markets. It seems many of us living in high price-rent areas are intrigued by the potential cashflow opportunities in the Midwest. One thing to take into consideration would be the overhead costs of being a cross-border investor, such as entity setup, property management, higher lending rates and tax filing should you choose to have a CPA. As Jimmy previously mentioned Columbus has strong macroeconomic factors driving appreciation. Coupling that with the abundance of properties in the city that meet the 1% rule, it makes sense why Canadians are redirecting their investment strategy across the border. I would love to connect and help each other strategize as we each make our entry-point into the Ohio markets. 

 I believe the requirement is 25% down for foreign investors. So that could have some positive impact on my ability to find cashflow. I've had a lot of people recommend Columbus as opposed to Cleveland due to population growth, so I will be taking a look into the Columbus market. In theory it would be wonderful to get mortgages at 3.5% down and search for value-add deals to near break even on cashflow after year 1-2, banking on appreciation from a highly-leveraged investment in a growing economy. However with a minimum 25% down, cash flow is a must, which is what lead me to Cleveland.

 Wildly enough, my first property was cashflow positive when fully tenanted. I was lucky enough to have purchased before a surge in the London housing market, so I got my foot in the door for 280k CAD. As you can imagine, the area was rough, and the property was sold to me "as is" with plenty of troubles to explore once the rehab began. I don't want to run into the same experience even further from home. I'd like to simply buy a turnkey rental and make cashflow but I understand that's easier said than done and turnkey properties likely won't provide me ideal ROIs. I'm open to suggestion regarding strategy and location and willing to put in more work for better returns, but I certainly need to grasp a better understanding of the process to get started across the border. 

Ideally I'd like to buy and hold some rentals in a location with a promising price-to-rent ratio and build on that over time. I would of course like to achieve the highest ROI within responsible means, considering I can't necessarily do a rehab. And having some operating income is ideal but not necessary if I expand through HELOC and refinances.

Hey Biggerpockets community,

I'm an investor from Toronto, Ontario where SFRs are $1m, the landlord tenant board is a nightmare and cap rates are doing the limbo. I bought my first rental in London, ON in October 2019, and recently sold in August 2024. I'm looking for a market where I can park the proceeds from my previous property and create some cashflow. Cleveland, Ohio seems to be the place to be in terms of cap rates and distance from home. I have about 250k USD to allocate to this venture, but I may want to dip my toes into the market with a single-family residence in an area like Parma Heights and test the waters. My first property was chaotic with tenant troubles, so Ohio being a landlord-friendly state and Parma Heights being A-class location, I'm eager to get involved and experience the difference. As a cross-border investor, I'm likely going to need advice on entity structure to protect my liability while also not being double-taxed, I'm going to need to network with experienced investors/property managers/agents in the Cleveland area. Would love to hear the community's thoughts and meet some Clevelanders!