All Forum Posts by: Gordon Starr

I once backed out of a contract on a big hilltop house when I found out why it was in foreclosure. A grizzly quadruple homicide then suicide by the dad wiped out the whole family. To make matters much worse a huge squatter moved in and destroyed the place while it was under contract. Not sure it was haunted, but it sure was creepy. Never buy a place that gives you the creeps.

i forgot to mention, my tenants always get the option to buy (verbal, not written) at premium retail price. So in addition to the expectation of a long term rental, Tenants also always want to buy the place. Thus, in theory, they will take better care of it. In the few cases where they left early, the tenants lost the deposit. 

I've lived in both Cleveland and Columbus. Columbus has rapid growth for quite a few years now. Its classier - and pricier. Cleveland has a bigger supply of vacant/distressed properties. Also, the people are nicer - sorry col just my view. Now I am in dayton ohio. Also an excellent place to invest in distressed property. Honestly, I liked cleveland most of all.

I put a huge effort to get great long term tenants for sf rentals. Here is my approach, it has made money every time: All my leaves are three years. But i never price them undermarket. my houses are top of the line for the area, so I do comps with other beautiful houses and undercut the premium prices by ten or 20 per month. This way,  I get a huge tenant pool to choose from. Then I choose likeable nice people who can afford the place and have references. There is a rent increase of 3 percent backed in the lease after three years.

Hi BP! Rougher, "less desirable" parts of town get a lot of negative comments. Higher risk, not for out-of-town investors, tenants who demolish your place. All that is probably true. Yet, I just keep doing the same thing with each new acquisition and it just keeps making ROI north of 20% and appreciation to boot. I thought it would be helpful to have a thread where successful c/d players share how they make it work. So, what is your "system" for c/d rentals? Also, what is a key piece of advise for new investors interested in buying this space? Thanks in advance, Gordon.

What I do is seek out the best SF houses in c class areas that used to be a/b back in the 1950s and 1960s when they were built. THOSE houses are worth a lot of elbow grease in polish and paint and curb appeal. From the curb, it should look like the nicest place on the block. In this arena, you DO NOT need to update things such as windows if there is a solid working original antique (there usually is). Then I market the place as mid century modern and do rent to own exclusively with a 3 year lease. Sometimes they buy, but usually not. The point is you get tenants who want to buy the place and they stay a long time and take better care of it. I average around 4 years tenancy and only had one ever go less than two years.

I am into emerging c plus Dayton city areas where around 850/80000 is for a really good little sf rental with management.

Hubert and Kettering are more.. and going up.. will be maybe 1100 per month. My priciest sf was a big hilltop in shiloh for 1250 per month. 

By class here are my pics.. 

b class I like Hubert heights and Kettering and north shiloh

B minus the nod goes to southern shiloh, belmont

c plus north riverdale emerging parts of north Dayton

C eastern hills, old north dayton

C minus, north main - dayton proper, westwood (yes it did get that much better after a thousand demo), trottwood

D Salem ave - Dayton proper, five oaks

F Santa clara

Nicely finished single family are going for around 80k and renting for around 850. The tenant pool is much bigger and much, much better with a highly polished mid century supersolid house. You find them all over the more promising parts of dayton proper. Dont bother updating so much, you may be destroying a solid antique. Lol

One of the cheapest ways to buy houses anywhere in the world is Daytons lot links program. You get a house with foreclosed title off the city for 750 including costs. You have to go down low house hunting, or know someone like me who already did that, and then plan two years ahead.