All Forum Posts by: Joe Cantanzriti

@Christopher Nerio  I can't personally speak to Cleveland as I really don't have any experience there though I do know there are many areas around Cleveland that have been booming. Maybe @James Wise might be a place to start there, he seems to be knowledgeable in the Cleveland area as well as many other on here I'm sure. 

It's not that Youngstown is a "bad" place to invest, it just depends what your looking for.... I'll keep buying property in the Youngstown suburbs but that's partially because I have the bias of it being my hometown and also the knowledge of street to street changes in the areas I invest. I have all of my property in the 44512 & 44471 zip codes which are Boardman & Struthers school districts. These areas are certainly not appreciating any time soon if ever but they are areas I'm very comfortable with and provide a very solid cash flow for the costs of the property. Also there is a very strong rental market here with a good balance of homeowners that keep the values at least stable. 

Columbus is a very strong market, though mostly between downtown & the university from what I understand... which has seen a huge influx of money in the last 5 or so years. Might be worth looking around that area. 

To answer the last 2 questions, No there is not appreciation in Youngstown, and unless something drastic happens, my opinion would be that there is no likely appreciation any time soon. There is lots of investor activity because of the cheap costs of acquisition and the majority of the market in the city are renters so it can be a great cash flow purchase but as always tenant selection is everything and property management selection is of major importance and very difficult for those properties.

Christopher Nerio I lived in Youngstown all of my life until a very recent move to Chicago so hopefully this helps a little bit for you. I was an agent for the last 5 years as well and do have a couple investment properties close to those areas but mine are 44512 zips, which the big difference there is the school district. Youngstown city schools are tough and there is a very drastic line of property values between the zip codes due to this right on the line of where your 44502 and 44507 areas are. The 70k values in those areas is probably a bit on the high side, though there are some select streets that could maybe get close to that number, it would be very dependent on the street. The vast majority of properties there however are selling to investors in the 10-20k range with varying rehab costs to get rent ready so if the 30-40k purchase costs are rent ready or very close to then it could be a good rental property though it's likely only worth around 30-40k for most properties. Most rentals seem to be section 8 there and yes it is a high vacancy area. Youngstown as a whole is a declining market but it's pretty much been in a very slow decline since the steel mills closed in the 70s, not much has changed for better or worse since then though as far as real estate is concerned. Feel free to ask me any other questions, certainly could try to assist.

@Account Closed Right now the homes I have in front of me that I'm looking for guys for are in Crete, Flossmoor, Matteson & Balmoral. 

Hi All,

I just made the move to Chicago from Ohio and am working for a real estate brokerage in their house flipping arm as the construction manager. We are in need of several general contractors to handle some of our flips from start to finish. I know contractors seem to be the most difficult piece of the real estate puzzle but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 

Agreed with @Ben McMahon .... impressive that you have 11k saved up first of all at that age. Buying a college rental could be a great idea, if your going to college that is, that's up for debate elsewhere on the BP forums. Look into getting an FHA loan, talk to a lender and see what you might be missing to qualify.. might need a little more income or more credit, a good lender will point you in the right direction if you couldn't immediately qualify that is.

If your not thinking the rental route, I have to say I personally received an excellent education buying and flipping my first property, did 80% of the work myself, watching youtube videos to learn how to tile along the way, etc. Even if you don't profit greatly or at all on your first flip, the experience will be priceless. 

I'm not sure what the market is like where you are but I was able to buy my first flip for 38k, borrowed the purchase from a friends Dad and the 2 of us took on the project. Talk to some friends or family, might be a partner or lender out there to help in your immediate sphere. Always nice to jump into this world with a partner or friend with a similar mindset to help you through the problems and setbacks that inevitably come up.

@Christie Duffy  Very much depends on the end product quality level.... as @Jim Adrian mentioned, $125 per SF has been a base number we've used for new construction though my experience is in the burbs, not urban Hoboken. For higher end finishing we've been in the $200-$250 per SF range on previous historic restoration projects when keeping the original structure & character of the property. Certainly going to need a local architect & General Contractor to put some pricing together for what you want on that one, there's lots of guys doing exactly that in the greater NYC market so I'm sure you'll be able to find one to assist. Hopefully one on BP will hop on here.

@Mike Cumbie Well said.

@Amanda Moore I'm hoping this post gave you some direction and certainly hope you are following up with @Dean Letfus with that offer he just gave to assist... gotta love BP, shows the power right there

Certainly depends on your state.... it appears difficult to wholesale here in Ohio for legal reasons that are beyond me so I suppose my perspective comes from that. I would agree that if your only reasoning is to gain MLS access than its probably not worth it but as a current wholesaler I would think you could expand your business with your license and not necessarily have to get into representing buyers and seller aside from your investors, which includes the resell side commissions for your investors who could use you for the sales on the tail end of their flips projects along with purchasing the deals you find for them on the front end. Just some thoughts, nothing wrong with wholesaling if its working for you, though if it's not a license is just a suggestion for possible path to follow.

@Amanda Moore  Have you thought about getting your real estate license? I know this an epic debate for investors but my personal opinion leans towards having a license especially if you in the wholesale business.... puts a layer of disclosure on top of course but allows you to give the property owners some options. 

1) "I have investors who are looking for properties like yours that can pay cash and close quickly to solve your problem Mr Seller"

or

2) "Just need to sell but don't have an urgent time constraint you say? Have you considered listing on the MLS? Doesn't cost you anything unless it sells and that way I can help you get your net price that you were hoping for that wouldn't work for my investors."

Providing options adds value.