All Forum Posts by: Charles A.

@Michael Ealy

I get that it’s your market and you feel defensive about it.

That’s ok.

But it’s not ok to misrepresent others.

At no point have I said it’s impossible to make money in the Midwest.

Not on my blog post, and certainly not here on this thread so far.

All I’ve stated is that it’s no longer for me and that other out of state investors should be careful and proceed with extreme caution.

It’s clear some local investors make it work.

Swanny that you just mentioned has clearly already detailed in an earlier comment on this same thread how he lost big on at least 2 Cleveland buildings.

When you get so defensive, it certainly raises all sorts of red flags about your own personal motives.

We know there are so many people on BP who make a living out of ensnaring unsuspecting out of state investors into bad Midwest deals by painting unreasonably rosy picture of what’s actually on ground.

And making outlandish claims of big successes that are often unverifiable on sites like BP is not new.

It’s how the majority of predatory gurus online make their money.

This post is about the other point of view.

Let us be heard.

Stop being so defensive and quit fighting me.

@Michael Ealy

You bought that in 2011.

I know I could post multiple similar wins for you that I had in Florida in 2011.

But I won’t bore you.

You live in Cincinnati.

I live in Jacksonville and bought my Cleveland buildings in the past 18 months.

Read my blog again and then read @Jay Hinrichs comments above.

We are trying to inform newbies and out of state investors, not savvy locals like you.

The post is not to say it’s absolutely impossible to make money in Cleveland.It just points out blind spots that’s often papered over by local stakeholders who sell Cleveland and cheap Midwest homes to uncanny out of town investors.

Information doesn’t hurt.Especially if it’s open and balanced like in this forum where it’s free to hear both sides of the story.

I hope you get the difference.

@Michael Swan

Be careful,my friend.

No matter how deep your pocket is,the Midwest will screw you.

It may be way more painful on the monster bigger deals actually in my opinion.

If you have tens of millions into an apartment deal gone wrong in Cleveland,it hurts in 10 million more ways.

Going big does not eliminate risk.

It amplifies it.

And a deep pocket can be wiped out by a big deal gone  wrong as easily as a newbie could get wiped out on a smaller deal gone wrong.

I’m with @Jay Hinrichs 💯 %

I do now understand why my favorite BP blogger (wink wink) packed up from Lima OH to relocate his investing to Arizona.😃

If you know, you know.

Best of luck with your Mentor closing though.You might need it!

In a recent podcast that interviewed Brandon Turner that I heard, if you listen in between the lines, you’ll discover even he is having enormous challenges with his apartment building in Cincinnati.

It’s likely why he’s more excited about his mobile home parks and syndication deals now.

It’s a common theme through the Midwest,I think.

Don’t just talk to brokers and local stake holders with vested interests...

Speak to investors who have actually risked capital.

They’ll tell you the cold hard truth about investing in the snow belt.

What's going on BP!

It's been a minute.

I wrote previous member blog articles about transitioning from duplexes and four-plexes into apartment building investing. 

We did that in 2 markets simultaneously:Jacksonville FL and Cleveland OH.

After a crazy 18 months, we just sold both buildings in Cleveland-just to stop the bleeding.

The Jacksonville building is a home run.

To read details on why I'm now shorting Cleveland and will never touch the mid-west with a long pole again, read my blog article here:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/8290/85811-why-i-sold-cleveland?created=1

Have a happy July 4th, y'all!

@Scott Mac

He’s claiming that the bottom of the fender got ripped off and wants us to pay for it.

There are no cameras so it’s  hard to verify what speed he was driving at.

Ok

So I just got an email from my PM informing me that a tenant’s relative in our Cleveland building is requesting his car be repaired by us as he suffered damage to the car’s under panel while driving out of our parking lot.

My first reaction was: “is this a joke?”

It does however seem he’s serious.

In 2 years of owning the building,not one of the scores of tenants we’ve had at the building has ever suffered any damage to their car.

The parking lot was also repaved prior to us acquiring the building.

Anyone else ever seen anything like this?

I closed on 2 apartment complexes in separate states as well as a triplex almost simultaneously.

Definitely not for the faint-hearted.

The last gory details are all spelt out in detail in the new blog post below:

77702-a-transition-to-apartment-complexes

If the link doesn't work, just got to the member's blog page anyway and look for my post.

You could also go on my profile and look up my blogs.

Hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving!

Hi guys!!

It took a bit more time than I anticipated but here below is the blog post I promised, enjoy!:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/8290/77702-a-transition-to-apartment-complexes