All Forum Posts by: Jim S.

I can only speak for dealing with POS in Shaker Heights so I don't know if it's as bad in other cities as it is there.  As far as Shaker goes- I would strongly encourage all investors to steer clear of this city.  Myself and a partner just sold a property last week that we rehabbed there.  I can't even begin to describe what an absolute pain in the rear the city of Shaker was to deal with throughout the entire rehab process. 

One of the "highlights" of our miserable experience there was that the original POS was conducted in July of 2019.  We purchased the property from a wholesaler late in 2019.  Due to COVID and other unexpected circumstances, we didn't have the property completed until early July 2020.  We corrected every violation on the list and it passed the final inspection.  We then listed it and it sold almost immediately.  A few weeks before closing we were informed that the original POS had now expired.  Not only did we have to pay for another POS inspection, but they then found a brand new laundry list of violations which ended up costing us an additional $4,500.00.

Let's just say it's quite a racket they're running over there. I will never invest another penny in that city and will probably avoid all cities that have a POS requirement just due to the bad taste I have from my experience there.  Right now I don't have time to properly detail every problem we had with them, but let's just say it was substantial. I hope to find the time soon to write a detailed blog about our terrible experience there.

Your best bet would be to contact a local attorney who specializes in real estate investing and go over exactly what it is that you want to do.  Obviously there is a cost associated with that but this way it will be set up correctly.

The general rule of thumb is that on deals where you are going to make a smaller amount of money, it's better to assign the contract.  On deals where you're making a larger amount of money, double closing is better.  As for what those amounts are, it varies but a general rule of thumb might be over/under $10,000.00.

@Barry Pekin Good information! I guess what it really boils down to is not getting in trouble unless you’re a member of the DMA (which I am not).  Thanks for your help. 

I just recently learned of the existence of this list but haven't been able to find out how to determine if a particular address is on it.  I'm guessing that these addresses could be weeded out with companies such as Listsource but this doesn't help much if you're building your own list by driving for dollars.  Does anyone have more information on this?  I've looked here on BP and have googled it but have come up empty.

I'll echo the others above- definitely get your financial affairs in order and pay off your debt before buying your first property.  

I would go with the audio book to maximize your time but if you find valuable information that you think you need to see in greater detail, consider buying the actual book (or at least a digital version of the book) to review in when you have time.  I know it's more expensive that way but as they say, "Time is  money."

As for a book recommendation, it really depends on what type of investing are you looking into, though you certainly can't go wrong with "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki.

I would also recommend attending local real estate meetups in your area.  After you have a basic understanding of the area you're looking to pursue (wholesaling in your case), you'll find that you'll learn more by networking with others in your field of interest than you would in two years of reading, watching videos & listening to podcasts.

Ohio isn't quite where Illinois is with regard to wholesaling laws yet but in my humble opinion it's probably headed there.  At bare minimum, they are certainly one of several states that  are cracking down on wholesaling.  The suggested video is a good one.  I'd recommend watching it not once, but a few times and then however you decide to proceed, do it cautiously or you may end up in serious trouble.  

I think both approaches done together (learning on the job, etc. AND reading and studying up on real estate) is your best bet.  Continual studying without taking action can certainly lead to "analysis paralysis" but just jumping in and taking action before you have some idea of what you're doing is a great way to lose money and possibly get into legal trouble.