All Forum Posts by: Gwen Fyfe

 I'm not sure I follow. I agree that it's a good thought to keep it in your name because of the re-connection fee, but if the water gets turned off due to the tenant not paying, that's the tenant's fault. You are also obliged to have heating in the unit, but that doesn't mean you need to have the gas bill in your name...?

This conversation is a good reminder to consult a local tax professional when you're investing out of state. All of us in the tax/accounting industry around Cleveland would tell investors about municipal tax (which as @Timothy Murphy III pointed out is not just RITA, but also CCA, and some cities run theirs independently... or don't have it but then it turns out that you're on the edge of a different taxing municipality than you thought...and then some cities don't tax passive income and others do...).

Unfortunately, for most tax returns, I spend as much time figuring out my client's municipal tax as federal tax. It's nuts and needs to be reformed, but in the mean time, be sure to get good local advice!

You should call up the city water department for the city you're looking at. Keep in mind that as an out of state investor, a lot of what you're looking at as "Cleveland" is probably a separate town. And that's great because a lot of the local governments of the littler cities are really responsive.

In Bedford (25 minutes from downton CLE), the city charges a minimum of $50 a month per unit. All of my units are single people or young families with 1 young kid, and for the most part, none of them go over the minimum charge per month. There was also a thread on my city's neighborhood facebook page (another great resource) recently that suggested a family of 4 could expect to use $60-$75 of water. I'm 100% sure that if I called up the Bedford water department, said I was thinking of buying a house in the area and asked for a ballpark figure, they'd give me the best answer they could.

Water is definitely the utility which is covered by landlords most often, but I think for the most part that's just because it's not separately metered very often. I just increase my rents by $50 and say water is included, job done.

From a simple "how do we get the money here?" standpoint, I recommend TransferWise. I've used them for all of my UK/US transfers for the last couple of years. They're very easy to work with and have low fees.

Cedric is giving you great advice, though. It's fantastic that your dad wants to get involved, but it might not be worth it.

Why would you assume the Mexican border?

Hi @Aadil Saeed, welcome to BP.

There are lots of active Cleveland investors here. I would get involved and start a plan and then post some specific questions.

@Daniel Bryant Yeah, I can understand the hesitation on that front. But... in a market with good tenants where you can buy a duplex for $75k and beat 2%, there's got to be some drawback, and I'm comfortable with it being the age of the structure. If you can find a market with all of these things and it was built ten years ago, let me know.

Also, so much of it depends on how the home has been maintained. As my inspector said to me - if it's been solid for a century, it's not going to fall down tomorrow. The main house in my quad, which I live in, was built almost a hundred years ago. But there was a carpenter living in it for fifty of those years! It's in amazing shape.

Just have to look at it on a case by case basis.

 That is deeply horrifying. Suddenly I'm glad I'm the one paying the water bill.

How does that even happen?!

EDIT: Apologies for the double post, apparently my computer wants to express shock and outrage as well.

How does that even happen?!