All Forum Posts by: Ryan Ball

We used State Farm for quite awhile on our 4 families in Cincinnati. They quit underwriting anything new that did not have two exits to a unit. We had a couple 4 family properties with American Modern and they were cheaper. We ended working with Pathway Insurance (broker) to get a blanket policy and it was way cheaper than any other option.

Like others, I would advise buying your own machines.  We have had very little maintenance required on the machines we own.  We purchased one building with Cincinnati Coin machines and inherited the contract.  It pays us next to nothing so the $0 laundry figure is a good estimate.

We have been investing in Cincinnati since 2007 from out of state.  It is really interesting how the number of out of state investors has really increased in the last year or two.  I would echo the comment that any multi families that are sub-$100k are probably to be avoided for the reasons cited.  Anything even remotely reasonably priced in a C or better neighborhood is under contract in days.  We just made a cash offer on a place for $5k over list and was told there were 30 offers since it was listed 4 days ago and the accepted offer "blew ours away".  Building is 65% occupied with empty units requiring updating and in a C neighborhood.  I don't mean to discourage anyone from investing in Cincinnati so much as trying to get people looking at Cincinnati for the first time to have realistic expectations.    

We have done well in Kennedy Heights and Silverton.  We have several buildings in Roselawn that have performed well but I would avoid most of that area.  We have also avoided the west side, Norwood, Evanston, Avondale.  I am sure there are plenty of people investing in those areas and making money but we have tended to focus on areas where our property manager has properties.

We bought a group of six buildings with 45 units and utilize our existing property manager. The prior owner also had a tenant he paid to pick up trash, do light cleaning, etc and we kept the same arrangement. On site management would not make sense but I think giving this tenant some limited responsibility is worth the small cost.

I would echo prior comments. We originally included duplexes and triplexes, plus 4-19 units. We then moved on to only 4 and up and the response rate dropped significantly. That being said we have purchased 49 units via direct mail (one 4 unit and a multi building 45 unit). The 45 unit deal was the third time they had received something from us. Recently did a very targeted mailing of around 100 and have had 3 responses from people who had no interest in selling. It takes patience and persistence.

We own 3 quads in Roselawn and they have been consistent money makers. Our property manager owns another 3 on the same street. The turnover has been lower than our buildings in other areas. As others pointed out Roselawn is very block to block. If you can get a 16% return on cash, that is not bad in my opinion.

We have used Pillar to Post for inspections for the last four years and have always found them to be reasonably priced, reliable and thorough.

10.8% cap rate does not immediately strike me as unreasonable without knowing area, comps, building condition, etc. The laundry income seems pretty high but more importantly the expenses seem far too low for class C.

We have used Pillar to Post multiple times and they have done a great job.