All Forum Posts by: James Blalock

Decreasing IRR over time, assuming you're not taking anything out over time, seems counter intuitive. I don't see how that could happen unless the initial amount invested is somehow decreasing over time (as in the mortgage being paid down and that being factored in to the calculation). Why not just use cash on cash return over time to determine if this is a good investment?

Why not estimate the water and sewage bill and just factor it into the rent? 

I think the point to take away here is "buyer beware" and "if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is".  

Check out the books on house flipping and estimating rehab costs on BP. They might help.  I.   I.   J j  I j j   I'm i

Check out the books on house flipping and estimating rehab costs on BP. They might help. 

Hi Susan. Welcome to BP. 

I found this piece of information on job growth in Cleveland. It's good news. Don't understand why job growth has risen while population hasn't. http://patch.com/ohio/cleveland/cleveland-jobs-gro...

Also you should check out USA.com.  You can see a lot of demographics for different parts of the country.  There may be some data on property values at the site.

Where in Cleveland, East or West would you find the youngest population, or at least those most likely to want to rent vs buy? 

Hope I have the right forum for this question. If not, can someone please point me to the right forum.  My issue is that I've seen Cleveland OH mentioned as a good place to invest, yet two things have me concerned. First, I looked up the demographics for Cleveland. While property values are going up, the population has gone down over several years. There are still a lot of foreclosures in Cleveland as well. That could be a good thing in terms of purchase price but I'm not really looking to rehab property since I'm out of state. What also concerns me is I have family in Cleveland and their home was just reassessed at a higher value that what they paid for it a year ago. The city is making them pay back taxes from the day they bought the property.  Their mortgage is going up $600/month until the back taxes are paid (the mortgage will eventually level out at about $200 more/month than what they planned). If that happened on a rental property it would wipe out any cash flow, not to mention that it seems unfair to go after back taxes on a home that was just now assessed at a higher value.  First, does anyone have any insights on possible growth in Cleveland in the future? Second, how do you avoid surprise tax increases, or is that just a part of the risks?