All Forum Posts by: Owen Maiden

 So how many did you pick up since the post ? 

If you need renovations once you decide on something, im contractor currently looking for investors to work with:)

Hi Owen- Most others have covered the specific areas to consider. I would just add that the West Eighties neighborhood is bound to experience some appreciation with being sandwiched between the Tremont and Edgewater neighborhoods. 

Some other things to consider with investing in Cleveland are these two topics... 

Certain neighborhoods will have what's called a POS or Point Of Sale inspection. Basically the city sends their own inspector out who compiles a list of items that are required to be fixed usually within 3-6 months of taking ownership. 

Sometimes when placing an offer --  the POS is not yet available - and when you place an offer you can make your offer contingent upon approval of these items... although in order to have a competitive offer in this seller's market you are basically forced to "assume" the pos violations once they become available (usually 2-3 weeks after it's been ordered) -- you should be able to tell if anything more serious might come up on the POS via your own personal inspection. 

A good rule of thumb -- if the neighborhood has "Heights" in it- then it will usually have a POS. For example: Maple Heights, Garfield Heights, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, And Euclid is a sneaky area that also has a POS. As @Patrick Drury mentioned- the West Side does not have any POS areas (besides Lakewood, but it's only needed for previously non-owner occupied/rental properties) 

Something else to consider in Cleveland proper is Lead Safe Testing .. @James Wise has a great video explaining this: 

As an investor focused agent with boots-on-the-ground here in Cleveland- I would love to help you find and purchase a solid property!

We recently bought a triplex in Clark-Fulton. We're dealing with utterly incompetent property managers, but once we solve that situation, it should cash flow well...

 Old Brooklyn, Brooklyn Centre and Clark-Fulton are 3 of my favs.

@Owen Maiden
I would recommend being in areas on the West Side of Cleveland like West Blvd, Cudell, Old Brooklyn, Clark Fulton, Edgewater, Jefferson, and Brooklyn Centre. The reason is the rent-to-price ratio is good so you can cash flow, and most of the West side doesn’t have a Point of Sale inspection which is really annoying.

There are a number of Cleveland neighborhoods that would fit your criteria including North Collinwood, sections of Clark-Fulton, and Lee-Harvard just to name a few.  There is also a significant investment happening in the Buckeye area that should drive appreciation in that part of town in the coming years although currently I would classify that area more as a C- or D+ depending on the street.

Best of luck to you!

Cleveland, Ohio is a great market to focus on for cash flow and specific pockets have gone up 2x and upwards of 4x in the last 5-10 years even!

Examples:

44109 (median home price went from roughly 50k to 125k in 8 years)

https://www.zillow.com/home-values/77009/cleveland-oh-44109/

44102 (median home price went from roughly 30k to 120k in 8 years)

https://www.zillow.com/home-values/77002/cleveland-oh-44102/

44106 (median home price went from roughly 100k to 200k in 8 years)

https://www.zillow.com/home-values/77006/cleveland-oh-44106/

It has the highest rents on average in all of Ohio for major cities and the median income is not even in the top 3. That creates a really nice price / rent ratio which is favorable for investors looking for cash flow. The median home price is also very low nationwide which creates a low barrier to entry. You can get solid cash-flowing single families in the 90-120k price range and duplexes in the 130-180k price range. There are cheaper one’s in D/F areas but I would be careful as those can create a laundry list of additional issues. In 2022 the rents increased 12.1% year over year which was the 3rd highest in the entire country per https://www.axios.com/local/cleveland/2023/02/14/cleveland-rent-prices.

Here are pockets I focus on for cash flow:

West side - West boulevard, Cudell, Clark-Fulton, Jefferson, Bellaire-Puritas, Old Brooklyn

East side - Fairfax, Buckeye-Shaker (the north side), Waterloo Arts District, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Newburgh Heights, Lee-Miles (the north side), Bedford

Here are the areas that I focus on for appreciation:

West side - Lakewood, Edgewater, Old Brooklyn, Ohio City, Tremont (above 490)

East side - Buckeye-Shaker (the north side), Waterloo Arts District, Fairfax

*I have a graded neighborhood map of these areas as well if you would like to check it out.