All Forum Posts by: Ethan Nowak

Hi Paul, welcome to BP! I purchased my first 4 unit property in the GR market at the end of last year and am currently looking for my next deal in the metro GR area.  Best of luck to you guys as you start your real estate journey. 

Ethan

Hello @Bryan, 

I have recently started investing in the Grand Rapids market.  I screened multiple companies and narrowed my results down to two, Shift Property Management and Simple Home Property Management. 

They are smaller companies, maybe better for someone just starting out. Both have a very similar model, which you can review on their respective websites.  Both are very good with communication.  I ultimately made my decision based on being able to meet with one of them during a prospecting trip to GR.  One was not able to meet that weekend, so it made my choice easier.

Best, 

Ethan

Hi @Meghan,

I just received a keyword hit for Grand Rapids and am interested in speaking with your more about your experience in that market. 

I will be in GR next weekend to look at some multi-family units, but have no experience in that market and am overall new to real estate investing.

Grand Rapids is an intriguing market for me, because the property values are not too inflated yet (like they are near me in the royal oak/berkley/clawson areas of Metro Detroit), the job/population growth is fairly strong there, and i think there will be some appreciation opportunity as well.

Do you own SFH or MFH in Grand Rapids?

Thanks and looking forward to discussing the area with you!

Ethan

@Will

Thank you for the RO licensing info! Much appreciated. 

@Jennifer

Thank you very much for your feedback about the RO market! Its seems like you already have experience with SFHs in the area.  I would be interested to speak with you more on some of your experiences and thoughts about the following. 

The real estate market has rebounded again and is fairly high, especially in the RO area. Have you purchased any properties this year? How do you look for/assess value in the area?

Do you have monthly cash flow requirements? 

What do you expect to get regarding cash on cash return and cap rate locally? 

I see that you mentioned getting 1% of the value or better via rent. That makes sense. We are evaluating a property on 13Mile that is 170k (3 bed, 1.5 bath) pretty good condition, think it could rent for around 1500-1700 a month. The non-homestead taxes in RO are very expensive though, which was something I had not considered initially.   Seems to be throwing off my cash flow numbers. 

Finally, do you make the tenant pay water/sewer/garbage and utilities? 

Sorry for all the questions! 

Ethan

@Rob

Thank you for your feedback. 

All indications point to RO as a strong rental market. I appreciate your comments though. Just confirms what I am seeing between RO market reports and the online listings. 

@Brian

Good point. Just realizing that the taxes on the property i am evaluating will be significantly higher than anticipated. Thank you for sharing. 

Also, do you know what it entails to license a property as a rental with the city of RO?

I am looking on the city website but dont see any information related to this.

@Greg, 

Thank you for the tip about RentRange, I will check it out!

@Will,

Thank you for the tip! Will investigate those options.

Hello Michigan BP Members!

I am a new investor in the Royal Oak area. 

Does anyone have any experience in this area, could be surrounding cities as well? (Berkley, Clawson, Huntington Woods, etc.)

I am interested to hear about how the market is finding tenants, current rent expectations for smaller single family homes, (800-1200 square ft.) , 2-3 bedroom, 1-2 baths, what is the competition like in the area, what are some of the local challenges facing landlords, etc. 

I am looking for any advice, comments, recommendations. 

Thank you and have a great day!

Ethan