All Forum Posts by: Andrea Jones

I'm really thinking of sticking with B or very hi C properties. The more I read, the more I think it would be best to stay away from section 8 or lower end properties. At least until I have a few years experience.

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Great info, thank you! Also, I'm glad you brought up the tip about contractors waiting to be paid, that opens up more area's to look at.

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Originally posted by @Kimberly T.:

Originally posted by @Alex M.:

Great post and sage advise. For those of us, though, without the benefit of hindsight and experience in the industry, and without existing wealth or rental portfolios to build reserves to cover future unseen costs - can some of you please expound a little more on the following:

1. how much is enough to get started?
2. what did you do to build these reserves?
3. for those out there who are getting by paycheck to paycheck, but wanting to get started, do you really recommend not just jumping in at the first opportunity, but instead waiting until you have a pot of "reserves" at whatever level you recommend (see answer to question 1.).

Thanks all.

Great post, Cal.

Alex, in answer to your questions:

1) It will never feel like enough, honestly. However, I'd recommend at least five grand, preferably ten, as a reserve. That should at least cover most of the possible surprises you might face.

2) My husband and I simply lived below our means. Well below. Pretty spartan, actually. We still do, to be honest. We are both engineers, so yes, we have good-paying jobs, but we also live in Orange County CA, which is quite expensive. I set up a budget spreadsheet in Excel so we could see how much we could live on, then we stayed focused on being cheap. We didn't have cable tv (still don't), I clipped coupons (still do), pretty much didn't spend money on anything unless we had to. We also put off having kids, for 2 reasons: first, kids are expensive, and second, I plan to be a stay at home mom, and doing that wouldn't allow us to save up money. That's how we saved up the down payment and reserves to buy our first rental, and it's how we've continued to buy rentals and grow our reserves. We are now finally at the point where we're ready to start a family.

3) I really wouldn't go "all in" on a rental without some sort of reserves. I don't have that kind of risk tolerance. Some people do, and that's fine for them, but that's just not for me.

Love your approach with investing! Very similar to how we are doing things...except we aren't at that pay scale quite yet ;)

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Originally posted by @Mike Ferrante:

I see some folks talking about POS inspections and escrow. My feeling is that the POS (point of sale) inspections have helped drive the prices DOWN in these cities! Not only do you need enough cash to purchase the house, but also, enough to cover the escrow for the POS, limiting competition. If you do have enough cash, you can compete with a limited number of other investors who can satisfy this requirement. And remember, you get this cash back after you have completed the repairs!

Garfield Heights is one city that has a POS, but they have temporarily eliminated the escrow requirement to spark activity in their city, which has taken a beating with respect to home prices.

Some other cities that don't have POS: Lyndhurst, Richmond Heights, Parma, Parma Heights. And is it coincidence that the prices have remained a bit more stable in these cities? Cleveland proper does not have a POS, but the prices have dropped dramatically here, nonetheless.

For the houses you have sold, with POS, how bad are they? Is it nit picky things like worn carpet and missing outlet covers? And what about homes with knob and tube? Which would be a large percentage of homes in the Cleveland area!

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Originally posted by @James Wise:

@Andrea Jones I believe all of those East side cities mentioned have POS inspections. I do very little business on the East side so im not 100% positive but im pretty confident that they all do.

About 90% of our business is on the west side.

I had a feeling, but was hoping otherwise. There is a decent MFH in Shaker for 13k. But the POS violation escrow is probably 13 million.

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Originally posted by @James Wise:

East Side. Maple heights. Garfield heights. Bedford. Shaker. Euclid. University heights. Cleveland heights

West Side. Parma. Parma heights. Brookpark. Berea. Strongsville. North Royalton. Lakewood. Brooklyn.

Are any of the east side cities you mention free is city inspections? It seems like POS violations end up costing more than the home.

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I realize that there are nice area's and not so nice area's in Cleveland Heights. With prices all over the place. I'm looking at a few duplexes and sfh on the less desirable side, that I would call low C properties. My first option would be section 8 tenants. And also students because of the proximity to the hospitals and colleges.

A) How is the Cuyahoga Housing Authority to deal with?

B) College students are my preferred choice. If the unit is updated, and close to public transit, will a less than ideal neighborhood scare them away?

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Originally posted by @Douglas Larson:

@Andrea Jones

Hi Andrea.

I love the IKEA double bowl DOMSJO sink and have installed about 10 of them, but only one in a rental that I still own. I think the durability is very good and I can say that they look much better than stainless steel sinks after a couple years of normal use. The only problem I've encountered is with certain metals leaving marks on the porcelain. I noticed that my titanium wedding band left a line on the apron front of one sink with only a light brush across the surface. It looked like a crack and was very difficult to get off. Silverware and pots don't seem to do this. Hope that helps!

Merry Christmas.

Thanks! That's the final push I needed, will be getting our first one very soon.

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I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to chime in since I almost never pay retail.

Here is what I do to get the most bang for my buck. I use my cc with cash back (only 1%, but it's something), to buy Home Depot giftcards at our local grocery chain. I do this when they are having the double fuelperks (.20 off a gallon up to 30 gallons per $50 spent) deal for giftcards. Every $100 will get us $12 in free gas. I stock up on cards during this time. Then I either buy my supplies online through ebates, which is another 1%.

If I want to price match (can even pm Amazon), I go in the store and show them the ad. They meet and beat it by 10% (I think it was 10%?) AND use my competitor Lowe's coupon on top of that.

One of the managers told me if I want to use my Lowes coupon for an online only HD order, I can call customer service, let them know I have the coupon and they will knock 10% off. I have yet to try that, but will next time I need something that's not in store.

One last thing. Our Lowes is pretty good about marking down an item that is on the shelf but has any damage. There is a guy on the floor who says find him if he is there and he will mark it down before we take it to the register. We have picked up some pretty good deals that way for items where the damage is very minimal or doesn't affect the usefulness of the item. We get bags of concrete, cement, sand, etc for $1 (any size or brand) if it has a hole in the bag. They even help me hunt for the broken bags and one guy offered to put some holes in a couple bags of the higher end stuff to get me a deal. I declined lol.

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Originally posted by @Douglas Larson:

@Nat C.

Hi Nat. Your "contractor" is either lazy or just doesn't know . . .

I have used a small masonry saw like this one on Amazonto cut many granite slabs. They are HEAVY as mentioned above but you can have some very nice results at a third of the cost of custom granite (about $15 per sq. ft.). I have done some small vanities with free or cheap pre-fab granite remnants and some medium-sized kitchens with pre-fab granite slabs. Just google pre-fab granite in your area and see what importers come up. Almost all of it comes from China these days. The pre-fab slabs usually come in pre-cut sizes (97"x 26") that are polished on 3 sides. I recommend the "flat-polish" edge and not the bull-nose because it is so much easier to but the flat seams up together at corners and long sections.

You might run into trouble with used granite only because it might not work with your kitchen floorplan. I will attach a couple pics of kitchens I did with the saw above and I really like the IKEA DOMSJO sink with this this approach because it keeps you from needing to polish an undermount sink cut and drill faucet holes. Polishing edges and drilling holes can be done but it's just more tools and more time.

Have Fun!

How durable is your Ikea sink? Have you had any issues with stains for chipping? I was looking at them for the exact same reasons as you stated.

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All Forum Posts by: Andrea Jones

Andrea Jones has started 6 posts and replied 59 times.

Post: For those who own property on Cleveland's east side...

Post: Cleveland OH investing?

Post: Reserves are almost an absolute necessity!

Post: Cleveland OH investing?

Post: Cleveland OH investing?

Post: Cleveland OH investing?

Post: For those who own property on Cleveland's east side...

Post: Cutting granite to size?

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Post: Cutting granite to size?