All Forum Posts by: Christopher Boggs

@Mark Lenox - POS Inspections - You really just have to check with each city as you look at houses, and you will build a mental list as you go. When I started I would just call the cities building department and check when I found a property I liked. Here are the ones I know for sure.

Has POS Inspection -

Mayfield Heights - Never worked with them, but someone I know has, 100% of all Major repair costs

South Euclid - 100% Escrow of all repair costs. City provides values, you can get them adjusted with a licensed/bonded contractor estimate, but not much

Cleveland Heights - 100% Escrow for all Major repairs costs. Usually ends of being about 75% of total repair costs

Euclid - 50% Escrow of repair costs, and I believe you have to get a licensed contractor to make an estimate which they review.

Shaker Heights - 150% escrow of all repair costs. You have to get a licensed contractor to make an estimate which they review.

Garfield Heights - Not sure on the policy

Doesn't have POS Inspection -

City of Cleveland - $75 POS fee (greasing palms), but no inspection or anything else.

Lyndhurst - No POS what so ever, but you will see higher prices of REO properties because of it.

P.S. - I have heard from investors I know that do many properties in a particular city that the building departments will become more leanient as you build a relationship with them. Less critical on the inspections, adjusting POS escrow values, etc.

Welcome to BP and the Cleveland real estate investment market. A few tips

• There are many good opportunities in the Cleveland area, so be sure to take a look at a few before buying your first.
• Have your agent give you extensive MLS comps of flips in the area after you purchase a house. Use this data to make sure your renovation plan doesn't over improve the house. I made that mistake on my first retail flip, and we blew most of our profits doing so.
• Be careful of cities with Point of Sale Inspections. It is something that has become popular in the Cleveland's surrounding sub cities (not the city of cleveland). Sometimes its only on vacant (bank owned) properties, and sometimes its for all property sales. The city building department makes a reporting listing all repairs that must be done before sale. If the seller won't make the repairs (like banks). Then the buyer has to put cash in escrow until the repairs are made. The escrow amount is based on the potential cost of the repairs. They can make you: Put $10,000's+ of cash in escrow until the repairs are made, Hold up selling your renovated house until every last detail is fixed, and Worst of all they sometimes add new items that weren't on the original POS report.
• I am not familiar with Macedonia, but Twinsburg seems a bit expensive for flipping. Usually you can make more money flipping a couple cheaper houses than one expensive one. They sell faster, and you diversify your investments
• You need access to the MLS, because when the good properties hit zillow they are usually already under contract.

Chris Calabrese - My inspector told me the roof has 10 years left on it, and I trust his judgement since he is a city building inspector for a neighboring city. The driveway is not optional since the city we are in has flagged it as a Point of Sale violation, and that pretty much means we have to fix it in order to sell it.

I am still new to this website/forum, so I don't want to overstep my bounds, but.....

I was wondering if there should be some kind of forum for "Before and After" pictures. I have been posting my before/afters in the "Rehabbing and House Flipping" forum, but I was wondering if there should be a separate forum for this. I know alot of guys put this on their blog, but I thought it might be a good thing to have on BP. It helps new people out alot to see the potential a property can have.

Thoughts?

Karen Margrave - Thanks

- Actually I lied about the excavator you can just barely see the arm of the excavator just above the work van

- J Scott - What do you think? I tried to emulate the colors in this flip of yours - http://www.123flip.com/house-pics/the-corn-house-staging-pics-rehab-2/

I picked the siding color "Light Maple", so that the garage vinyl siding will match the house. it came out a little more yellow than beige than I would of liked, but overall I think it came out good.

Well we still need to replace the driveway and sidewalks, but that is underway. You can't see the excavator in the backyard in these pictures.

But I wanted to show you guys how the paint turned out.

More pictures to come when the project is finished.

J Scott & Donald Hendricks - I like the color scheme that both of you suggested, but I am a little concerned that the brown roof might clash. Especially since it is so visible from the front. What do you guys think?

Patrick M. - Yeah if you want to keep it in an LLC you will need to most likely do a commercial loan. The rates are lot higher. We just did one on a duplex, and we called about 10 banks. We found a local bank that held its own loans and got a 15-year fixed @ 6.5%. If you planning on doing buy-n-hold then an LLC is a great idea, but will screw up your financing options. If your going to flip I wouldn't bother putting it in an LLC since it creates so many financing problems.

There is apparently a bit of a loop hole though. I have heard alot of different investors do it, but I haven't tried it yet. Apparently you can go out and get the loan personally, and take advantage of all the great products available. Then after closing on the loan you quit-claim deed the house into your LLC. Technically with most loans this would trigger the "Due on sale clause" meaning you would have to pay off the loan in full, but I have never actually heard of this happening. It is the same situation with doing subject-to purchases. If you listen to this podcast. I think the lady says she has done 150 or so with no problems - http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/24/subject-to-direct-mail-woman-investing-podcast/

From what banks have told me thought you will have to have the property in your name for I think 6 months before getting a loan in your name.

Thanks for the replies. Here is come comparable sales from the immediate neighborhood, and some current listings. Hopefully this will give you guys a better idea

Comps sales

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1114-Winston-Rd-Cleveland-OH-44121/33665223_zpid

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1219-Winston-Rd-South-Euclid-OH-44121/33665316_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1202-Plainfield-Rd-Cleveland-OH-44121/33665372_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1252-Winston-Rd-South-Euclid-OH-44121/33665341_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1323-Argonne-Rd-South-Euclid-OH-44121/33666145_zpid/

Current Listings

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1332-Argonne-Rd-South-Euclid-OH-44121/33666160_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1134-Plainfield-Rd-Cleveland-OH-44121/33665269_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1163-Plainfield-Rd-South-Euclid-OH-44121/33665243_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1109-Avondale-Rd-Cleveland-OH-44121/33665887_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1112-Argonne-Rd-South-Euclid-OH-44121/33665867_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1142-Avondale-Rd-South-Euclid-OH-44121/33665184_zpid/

Donald Hendricks - Have you found that someplace like rent-a-center is cheaper than paying for the staging company's furniture? Obviously you would loose the staging company's input, but if there is enough cost savings I am sure we can figure it out.