All Forum Posts by: Matt Stewart

Absolutely!!  I couldn't agree more!

Start calling title companies.  Most of them have an attorney on staff.  Just explain what you want to do and see who is willing to help you.

@Patrick Martone  It costs you nothing to buy a property through an agent.  You should have at least one Realtor on your team if not several.  If they bring you a deal close through them so they earn the commission.  But be prepared for the competition when you're submitting offers.  Anything listed at a discount, at least in my area, is getting massive attention and dozens of offers.

@Diane Dib  That's not the smell of cat pee, that's the smell of money!  I've bought a few cat pee houses and usually because the competition held their noses and ran.  All of the suggestions above are spot on.  I actually had one house where I removed the lower 2ft of drywall throughout the entire house and then treated everything.  What you don't want to do is assume the smell is gone and then proceed with your finishes.  Make certain it's gone.  Keep the house closed up for a few days, no furnace or fans running, and then bring someone into the house who is not a pet owner and watch their reaction.  Good luck!

@Sastry Konduri There's no shortage of Realtors on this site who will jump at the chance to set you up with an MLS search if that's what you're looking for. Some of them are quite good and very knowledgeable about the central Ohio market. And depending on exactly what you're looking for that might be helpful to you.

But the reality is that listed properties are usually pretty worked over and anything that is a good deal and makes it to the mls will get massive attention from the multitudes of desperate buyers all too willing to overpay.  

The easy route to the low hanging fruit of the market today is rarely profitable.  Find out where the crowds are not.

@Adam Harward  Some of the suburbs that I would consider A & B areas for rentals would be Westerville, Worthington, Hilliard, Pickerington, and Canal Winchester.  In most of these areas you'll get a quality renter, but without a lot of appreciation.  These are safe investments for the most part.  But as Robert Ellis mentioned above, if your risk tolerance is a little higher there are some inner city areas that are undergoing massive changes and the appreciation is much higher.  But for an out of town investor it is a risky move without having a good local team? boots on the ground.  It's not uncommon to spend far more in rehab costs than acquisition of the property itself and without knowing exactly what you're getting into there's a lot of risk, especially for an out of town investor.

@Paul K. McCoy  Unfortunately I'm familiar with what happened to you.   I also bid on a property at the courthouse, won the bid, handed in my deposit, and started my process only to find out a few days later from my title company that the sale was vacated because the owner paid at the last minute.  Frustrating doesn't begin to describe it.  We just moved on knowing it was pointless to waste time and energy on fighting the inevitable.  I don't know if there's anything that can be done in your situation, but I feel your pain brother.

@Amy Chen  Although they're right next to each other there's a world of difference in values between Whitehall and Bexley.  I would consider Bexley an A/B+ area and Whitehall to be a C/D area.  If you're looking for rentals on the cheaper side I'd cross Bexley off the list and focus on Whitehall.

@Joshua Myers

I'm almost positive I know the house you're talking about and it's bad.  Even after the drywall is out of there every one of those studs will need to be treated.  No professional remediation company is going to put their name on paper without treating every surface of that house, including the ductwork.  How much it costs will depend on how much prep work you do ahead of time and how many man hours it will really take for them to get the job done.  Don't pay your mold remediation people to tear out drywall.  I'd get a few estimates because it can vary quite a bit on a job that size.

Full disclosure, we have submitted an offer on that property so I'll be happy to discuss numbers with you once the seller has accepted an offer - ours, yours, or one of the others.

Hi @Lalita Mitchell

I work with a few OOS investors either on JV deals or just managing the rehab process. Feel free to reach out when you're in town!