All Forum Posts by: Peter Lohmann

Hey John,

I am also here in Columbus, and coincidentally also have a EE background. Worked full time as a control systems engineer for 5 years before I quit my job to do RE investing and PM full time. Happy to get together if you'd like.

Peter

How many of you are tying up properties with contracts and then publicly marketing/offering to sell your option or contract? Be honest. Don't most of you market the property first and foremost, using the property address? Are you even including any language about the contract? Most state laws say you can't market properties (offer to sell properties) that you don't own. There is no law against selling what you do own. But I'd be careful about marketing property that you don't own.

How many of you are marketing using language that says: Equitable interest in purchase agreement for sale? Option assignment available for cash? I usually have to ask the wholesalers who call me more than once if they own the property or not. They tend to be fuzzy on the ownership issue.

Thank you for introducing some logic into this conversation. It was hard to pick out through all the whining in the rest of this thread.

Try these, have used in the past with great results (though on smaller jobs only):

Superior Home Maintenance - Tracy Cohen or Mike - 614-224-8842

Hometown Handyman - Ando Johnson - 740-591-0878

Everyone I've talked to said that section 8 is not worth the hassle of all the hoops they make you jump through.

That is not accurate. Section 8 can be a gold mine in low-income neighborhoods, as long as you keep your properties in good condition. And by good, I don't mean AMAZING - just decent. Regular maintenance items. A good PM will take care of all the details anyway.

Sure. A few thoughts on this deal, and then the Linden area:

1) I think you got a great deal on the portfolio. That's a small amount of money for a lot of income

2) You need to talk to your lender and get the exact terms. How often can it adjust? Is it linked to prime, and what's the spread? Could it go higher than 10%? Can it go down again?

3) If I'm doing my math right (20% down, 30Y amort), your mortgage payment will be $225. That's only 9.7% of your monthly income. Even if the interest rate goes to 10%, it's such a small loan that it doesn't affect the overall numbers very much.

4) Linden (and Hilltop) is a mixed bag. I would need to know the addresses to give more specific advice. It is a lower-income neighborhood, but that does not mean you can't be very successful, particularly with a good property manager ;) You can buy and hold and be very successful - just don't count on appreciation.

5) Are any of the tenants section 8?

6) How is the condition of the properties?

7) Make sure you allocate plenty of funds for capital improvement.

Peter

Hi Jake - I manage property in that area (and throughout Columbus) and would be happy to help.

Regards,
Peter

I'm an active investor and property manager in Columbus, Ohio - how can I help?

Hey Teal - I run an investing club via Meetup.com. Here's the link:

http://www.meetup.com/realestate-228/

Peter