All Forum Posts by: Jordan Noble

@Nick Fawell What street is your 6-unit deal on?  Avondale is street by street but for the most part is going to be C class (or worse).

Similar to @Alex Bacon, i have optimism about the area improving over the coming years and have recently been thinking about picking up some multi's.  They cashflow well today and this might be a neighborhood that in 5-10 years we are looking back wondering how in the world properties were trading for what they are trading for today.

@Michael Sherrill From what i can tell, yes it has helped alleviate some of the staffing issues.  However, maintenance needs tend to come in waves so i was really noticing it when i had a bunch of maintenance issues, whereas the past couple months have been slower on that side (knock on wood).

They handle 10 units for me 

Hey Brandon - you are correct on that, these brick 4-units are all over the place.   I have both personal and client experience with these buildings, let me know how i can help.

Hi Priya,

Investing in Hamilton IMO is similar to investing in any other rural town throughout the country.  I dont personally invest there but i work with multiple people who either live or invest there.  Like most areas, there are streets/pockets of crime  but other streets/pockets that are perfectly fine with little to nothing to worry about. 

In regards to investment strategy, i would only suggest that you go after properties in these types of areas if they have ridiculous cashflow and that is your number one goal. By ridiculous cash flow i am talking 20%+ CoC return year 1. The reason being is these properties are going to have low appreciation and low rent-increases over time in comparison to the major cities that Joshua and Michael mentioned above. I believe over a 10-year outlook you are going to have far outsized returns investing closer to major metro areas than you are going to in markets like this.

Good luck!

Hey marvin - congrats on pulling trigger on the first property! first one is the hardest for everyone.

Unfortunately, contractors are the toughest part of the business (or such has been my experience investing for the past 3 years).  They all tell you they can do the job better, cheaper, and faster than they actually can.  The trick is to find a contractor that over time you buiild a relationship with and can trust so when he tells you the actual job is going to be $15k you know with 100% certainty he has your best interest at heart and isnt just fishing for more work than is actually needed.

WIth this being your first deal, OBVIOUSLY you are not going to have that relationship with any one contractor yet.  So what do you do?

I would advise getting additional opinions in scenarios like this.  Dont rely on what he says as the bible. Send your agent and/or property manager over there to take a look at the situation .  Hopefully they have some construction experience and can either confirm for you what is needed or give you an alternative solution.  

Lastly, have you given the contractor a deposit for this job?  WIth the amount of time he has been dragging you through the ringer i would be looking for a new contractor that has more availability/transparency on when he is actually going to be able to complete the job.

Hope this helps!

Hi Todd,

Choosing areas to invest in are really going to depend on what your strategy is.  

I personally like higher quality areas with higher likelihood of appreciation, but a little bit less cashflow.  Therefore I invest in neighborhoods on the east side of the city (Evanston, Norwood, Madisonville, Pleasant Ridge, Deer Park, Madeira, Kenwood, etc) - my basic rule of thumb is to stay as close to Interstate I-71 as you can.

If you are okay with C,D class areas in exchange for higher cashflow there are neighborhoods on the west side of the city or further away from downtown that can accommdate this.

Downtown neighborhoods (Biz district, pendleton, OTR, Mt adams) are really going to be your higher end plays that can still cashflow enough to cover all of your expenses but CoC is going to be <5%. Downtown is more conducive for short term rentals in building that allow such.

Hope this helps! Reach out if you have any more specific questions.

The sub-markets of any city are where you are going to better pinpoint cashflow v appreciation although the greater metro market indicators are still important.

For example, there are neighborhoods in columbus (the higher appreciation city, typically) that will have little or no appreciation and just straight cashflow just like there are neighborhoods in cleveland (the lower appreciation city, typically) that have great appreciation potential because of sub-market trends.  

As mentioned above, just pick one and roll with it.  Build a competent boots on the ground team and communicate what your goals are.

@Jared Brinn properties in Cincinnati are old, no two ways around it.  Personally, i tend to advise clients towards purchasing a remodeled multifamily for house-hacking.  The goal of house hacking is to have as little cash out of pocket to get started and allow you to save more income to move on to the next property.... if you spend all that saved income on maintenance then what's the point.  Don't worry about value-add if you're trying to save cash via house hacking.  

With that said, a well-rehabbed property should have mitigated all of the concerns you are stating but as Andy and Marc already stated you are going to want to lean on a great home inspector to advise you on what you are getting  yourself into.  Over time as you walk hundreds of these old homes you will be able to spot right away the issues and appreciate the great work already put into the property.  Hope this helps and good luck!

As a former engineer who decided to pursue real estate investing/agency full-time, you are making a great decision.  You are clearly on the right path with education - continue doing so as this will make choosing a real estate niche easier.  Whatever you enjoy learning about most is a great starting point.  Good luck and welcome!

@Andrew Cheek Hey Andrew! My personal opinion is you need to master either rehab or creative financing (or both!) to scale quickly in the beginning.  Below would be my 2 suggestions for whichever route you took:

Rehab:

-Use HML to BRRRR a distressed single or small multi family deal and refinance after 6 months ( I have a HML who will lend 90% of purchase price and 100% of the rehab as long as you can prove you have done one deal - message me if this interests you). This will allow you to get into a property for little money down, fix up the property and refinance to long term debt and ideally get the little money you put down into the property back to do it again. To really scale, partner HML with private lenders so you can do a few at a time (this is what i currently do. it is a lot easier to go to a private lender and ask for $25 or $30k to use as your HML down payment than to ask for $250k)

Creative Finance

- If you find a really great deal, you can do some form of creative finance.  An example of a duplex i just bought in norwood was a great off-market deal that was way undervalued.  I combined private money and hard money to purchase it and am about to refinance and pay all of them off without doing any rehab! Cashflow from day one - this required both creative finance and a killer deal but allows me to own a cashflow duplex with 25% equity with no money out of pocket just because i found a great deal and was able to put it together.

- I have not done one but am working on a subject to deal which would allow me to gain ownership of the property while the orgiinal owner keeps the mortgage in their name and i make the payments for them.  Listen to Biggerpockets episode 529 that just recently came out because this gave me a lot of inspiration to start putting this deal together.

Hope this helps!