All Forum Posts by: Jim Cran

My wife and I have fixed and flipped seven single-family homes and now own three duplexes using the BRRRR method. I just read Peter Harris’s “Commercial real estate for beginners” and am halfway through “Rich dad, poor dad.” By Robert Kiyosaki, both very inspiring. We are now considering purchasing an apartment building as the next step. I’ve been reading the forums and the common thread seems to be starting out with duplexes and gaining experience to make the move to an apartment building. I’m looking for advice on the next best step, first step, to making the leap from duplexes to an apartment building. We preferred to do it on our own but without ignoring the risk that comes with such a venture. We live in the Cleveland area so prices for apartment buildings are actually reasonable compared to some of the other locations I’ve been reading about on these forums. We want to stay local. Thoughts?

It's not sold yet so haven't grossed anything. But $20k is always the minimum target for net.

Jason Price Too much money invested for the ROI.

Well, 6 months later, Flip #5 is on the market. It took forever but in fairness to ourselves, we did also buy and renovate two duplexes (cash out refi'd one of the two so far), drove to FL to pack and move my mom back to OH, went to CA for a wedding, camped in Maine for two weeks, trudged through the holidays, and...suffice it to say, we weren't idle. Here's a LINK TO ZILLOW for pictures. We ended going over budget by about $5k due to unexpected issues with painter and concrete contractors but the asking price is higher than we had planned. Hopefully, we'll get close to the ask, but we'll see. Probably won't buy in Bay Village again, too much skin in the game compared to other areas. That too, we shall see.

So what's better, renting to families with destructive children or renting to younger singles. Sounds like a lose-lose to me.

Thank you all for your excellent advice. I feel more confident now than I did 24 hours ago. :-)

Kenneth Garrett Thanks Kenneth!

@Kenneth Garrett Do you run background and credit checks on each one? I would assume so.

I'm about to advertise a 3 bed/1 bath unit in an area that is typically rented by roommates (vs. families). I'm looking for advice on how to structure the lease if I do get roommate applicants that I anticipate getting. I've read on these forums about tenants moving out leaving the remaining roommates (and the landlord) in a quandary. I want to keep it as simple as possible. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks Taylor Brugna and everyone else who responded!