All Forum Posts by: Jimmy Lieu

Quote from @Ruben Wazana:

Hi ,

I'm mooving in ohio and looking for opportunities Multifamily in the cleveland market any advise will be greatly appreciated 

Hi Ruben, I own a few multifamily properties here in the Columbus Ohio market - happy to connect and answer any questions you have!

Quote from @Kevin Liu:

Hi everyone, 

What is the best way to find a good lender for your market? Also, what makes a good lender good? 

I just started my real estate investment journey and want to get a pre-approval amount estimate. 

To any lender available to finance in Ohio, I'd love to connect. 

Hi Kevin! Happy to send over my lenders - it does depend on which type of financing you plan to go with (conventional, DSCR, hard money, etc). You'll want to get rate term sheets from each of your lenders and compare and contrast. When you get a pre-approval, you can get multiple and it won't hurt your credit score so I definitely recommend checking out a few and comparing each of their lender fees, origination costs, interest rates, and more. Additionally, you want to pay attention to APY - this is the rate that is the most important number because it includes all lender fees into the percentage. Happy to connect and send over my lenders - hit me up (i've reached out to 100s of lenders and have the lenders w the best rates!).

Quote from @Zachary Elliott:

Hi everyone — I'm Zac, an attorney licensed in Ohio. I'm getting licensed in KY right now. I work primarily with real estate investors and small business owners, helping with things like lease drafting, LLC formation, and contract review.

I’ve got a background in both law and real estate sales, and I’m based in Northern Kentucky. I’m here to connect, learn, and be a resource where it makes sense.

If you're doing deals in KY or OH — especially buy-and-hold, STR, or small commercial — feel free to reach out. Always glad to share what I know and support the investing community however I can.

Hi Zach! I work in the Columbus Ohio with a lot of investor clients here! Happy to help any way I can!

Quote from @Zachary Hayes:

I’m 21, living in New Jersey with my parents, saving about $2,000 a month, and not in a rush to move out. Given that I have low overhead and time on my side, what would be the smartest first real estate investment move I could make to build long-term wealth

If you live in New Jersey, you should definitely consider investing out of state. As an investor, you should look into income hacking. It's a concept which you earn a high income in your local market but you use the capital to invest in a much cheaper up and coming real estate market where you can still find cash flow and tons of appreciation! Another thing you can do is move and house hack somewhere and live pretty much rent-free! I did the exact same thing myself and moved to Columbus Ohio from Portland Oregon! It's one of the hottest markets in the US right now with some of the fastest population and job growth and companies moving and developing here. I would recommend taking a look into 26B Intel headquarter development, Amazon, FB, LG, Google, Anduril, Nationwide, Ohio State University, and many other companies here! Additionally, you can still find properties for 120-180k that will positive cash flow and hit the 1% rule. Recently one of my clients purchased a $120k single family house and is currently renting it out for $1550/mo. Anything you buy in the Columbus Ohio market is currently blowing up in terms of appreciation growth. Happy to connect and answer any questions you have!

Quote from @Sam Evrard:

Let's say I'm looking to go in at 3.5% on a duplex in the Columbus area using an FHA. I've been seeing properties go for 250k-350k that are within a reasonable range for an investment. What amount of cash saved is feasible for this option?

Hey Sam! I moved from Portland OR to Columbus OH and started off with a house hack myself so I did the exact same thing. You can definitely find a solid near turnkey duplex in a good location for 250-350k here (have done it many times for other clients). If you're buying a $250k duplex and putting 3.5% down, that's roughly 9k. I would add in a few extra thousand for lender fees and origination costs so $12-13k and 2% for closing costs. if you want to be conservative, you will need $15-18k. Aside from that, you should have a small turnover budget and a few months worth of reserves in case of emergencies. Happy to connect and answer any questions you have - I've done the house hacking strategy a ton of times for both myself and clients :)

Quote from @Jackie Mcmorrow:

Hi BP! My name is Jackie and I’m looking for some guidance as I begin my real estate journey. I’ve read a few books/ listened to some podcasts on real estate investing and am ready to start analyzing deals but am stuck on which market to narrow in on. I can feel myself getting into analysis paralysis (in terms of market selection) and the last thing I want is to quit before I really even try.

Appreciate if anyone has thoughts on markets that generally fit the criteria below and I’ll take it from there! I’ve also included a short list of cities that seemingly fit what I’m looking for but am open to thoughts here as well. Worth mentioning, I live in NY and am leaning towards investing out of state, for lower property taxes and more landlord friendly laws.

What I’m looking for

- Buy and hold property

- Long term tenants (ideally vacant at purchase)

- Single family home

- Class B to A (likely B for more cash flow opportunity) neighborhood

- Opportunity to add value so am more than open to rehab

- Cash flow as primary focus

- An area with comparatively low risk of natural disaster

- Of course somewhere with growing population and jobs and less than average crime. Added bonus if a large corporation/ industry is investing in the area and or a city with confirmed infrastructure improvement plans

Cities I’ve found that seem to fit the mentioned criteria but appreciate thoughts/ guidance/ direction:

- Cincinnati, oh

- Columbus,oh (but seems like too hot a market?)

- Dallas/ Fort Worth, tx

- Charlotte, nc

- Toledo, oh

- San Antonio, tx

- Minneapolis, mn

Hi Jackie, if you're looking for a great real estate market for buy and hold opportunities where you can still find the 1% rule, tons of appreciation potential, landlord-friendly, AND low risk of natural disaster, I would definitely look into Columbus! It's one of the hottest markets in the US right now with some of the fastest population and job growth and companies moving and developing here. I would recommend taking a look into 26B Intel headquarter development, Amazon, FB, LG, Google, Anduril, Nationwide, Ohio State University, and many other companies here! Additionally, you can still find properties for 120-180k that will positive cash flow and hit the 1% rule. Recently one of my clients purchased a $120k single family house and is currently renting it out for $1550/mo. Anything you buy in the Columbus Ohio market is currently blowing up in terms of appreciation growth. Happy to connect and answer any questions you have!

Quote from @Valerie Peabody

Hello! I just moved to Irvine from the Bay Area. We still own our house with ADU in Pacheco, CA, and the property is a rental now. We have invested with family over the years, and we're looking to make more investments. I'm hoping to learn how to find more deals that cashflow and make passive income.

Hi Valerie, if you live in California, you should definitely consider investing out of state. As an investor, you should look into income hacking. It's a concept which you earn a high income in your local market but you use the capital to invest in a much cheaper up and coming real estate market where you can still find cash flow and tons of appreciation! You would get much better bang for your buck in a market like Columbus Ohio (you can easily find deals that still hit the 1% rule for 120-180k and in good locations. Happy to connect and answer any questions you have!

Quote from @Account Closed:

Good evening,

I am interested in house hacking in the Columbus Ohio area. I was having trouble finding a good deal until my realtor suggested we look for properties where Section 8 is strong.

Running the numbers on these properties the potential profit looks pretty favorable! That concerns me- if it were this "easy" everyone would do it. What is the downside to section 8? Does anyone have any experience in Columbus OH with Section 8 (CMHA here) specifically? 

Thanks! 

Hi Jacob, I moved from Portland OR to Columbus OH to start full time real estate investing myself and started off by house hacking as well! I bought a single family house when I moved and started off by renting by the bedrooms. I strongly recommend house hacking because you get to live rent-free while learning so much about being a landlord and how to start investing yourself. Pros of section 8 is that you can typically get much higher market rents and your rent is guaranteed every month by the government. The cons of section 8 is that you have to pass the annual CMHA inspection and do all the repairs required and usually it does require more turnover when the tenants leave. I have seen great results with section 8 so far - one of my clients purchased a 3/1 single family house for 120k here in Columbus and is currently renting it out for $1550/month so they're absolutely crushing it! Happy to connect and answer any questions you may have!

Quote from @Justin MacMillan:

Hi, does anyone have recommendations for an agent that is familiar and has experience with short term rentals in Fairfield County or Hocking County areas? Again, they have to have experience with short term rentals along with the market. Not for primary home or regular long term rentals. 

Hi Justin, I've done STR/MTR many times and have helped tons of my clients do the exact same! Happy to connect and help any way possible.

Quote from @Ben Callahan:

Hi all! Currently in Southern California (so priced out of the market) and looking to start my REI journey out of state. I've been spinning my wheels for a few months now trying to find the right market and strategy. In an ideal world, I'd like to invest in small multi-family homes with some reasonable value-add opportunity. I'd like to at least break even on the cash flow side, but be in a place where, over time, there will be reasonable rent and property value growth. I don't have the ability to house hack and have no prior experience in the RE industry or construction, though I am a corporate/real estate lawyer, so that might help in some way. A few questions I'd love to pose to this group:

1. Would I be likely to meet out-of-state investors at local SoCal meetups? 

2. For out-of-state investors, how did you land on your market? Did you have previous experience there or connections to start building a team?

3. Without house hacking, what's the best way to scale efficiently? 

4. I've been having a hard time finding reliable rent info online. How do you find going rental rates for properties based on size/layout, etc.? Is there a paid service with that info or do you just use average/median figures from Zillow, etc.?

Thanks all!

-Ben

Hi Ben, best way to start getting out of paralysis analysis is to start taking action! This means connecting and finding an investor agent in the market you want to invest into! 

You should have an investor agent who can help with the following...
1. Finding you personalized deal flow (on-market, off-market, pocket listings)
2. Being able to consult on whether a location is good or bad for an investment property
3. Being able to estimate renovations and provide a scope of work
4. Being able to help you build your real estate team (PM, contractors, lenders, etc)
5. Helping you with your deal analysis and provide consultation on your numbers

With that being said...

You do not need experience or connections - your investor agent should be able to connect you with your other team members. However, you need to make sure your realtor is actually an investor himself and has done what you're looking to do.

The best way to scale efficiently is to BRRRR - however, this is usually a bit more work since you'll need to be on top of your contractor and make sure the renovation is going as planned. If you do have a lot of capital coming in, I would recommend going with the normal buy and hold strategy. It's really up to you and your resources!

Happy to connect and answer any questions you have! :)