All Forum Posts by: Robin Cox

@Curt Riffel  We invest heavily in Hamilton.  Our friends are in Trenton and of course Middletown.  Would love to get on your buyers list as your client wants to sell in these areas.  Our RE club is flush!!

Shout out from southwest Ohio!  

Hello ladies. We are definitely outnumbered but we got skills! We went from 0 to 12 SFR in 4.5 years and are technically millionaires now! Woo Hoo!! Real estate is an awesome way not only to pad your income but to make an awesome income, and in so many different ways. Thanks @Jennifer Pauyo for starting this thread and great idea @Marian Huish about a virtual meeting.  I may just hit up @Valerie Winrow and her meeting. I belong to several REIA groups in my area and am the only female in the group of young guy investors, lol, I feel like their mom {eye roll} But they are killing it and I want to be a part of people going out and doing awesome things!

Oh My God. Just... What?? We are 9/9 with none late at all. And added 2 new tenants to freshly rehabbed homes July 1. All SFR. Here in Ohio, especially Butler county, the courts DO NOT PLAY. We are in a C class area and we sent out a SlyDial when this first started to advise tenants to please call if their families have been financially affected by COVID. Not one call. Unless you count the 2 that called to thank me for my concern. All are apparently essential workers and Ohio was pretty good with unemployment from what I hear, not that any of my tenants needed it. Yes, the courts were closed but as soon as they open the evictions will fly and the only question the judge asks is, "did you pay your rent?" He will listen to their excuses and say, "eviction granted. You have 7 days to leave." And it costs $149. (I only know because of my only inherited tenant)

@Meryl McElwain I cannot imagine what your business is going through!  I hope when this is over you all can get together and start a class-action lawsuit against... the city? state? who? The powers that be are destroying your business.  What will they do when they have hundreds of people living on the street because they pampered them then kicked them in the teeth?  UURRGGHHG!!!!!  This is terrible. 

Hi Mark,

We own 11 SFH in Hamilton. It's currently going through a revitalization that has prices rising quickly. It is a small urban town so crime in urban areas is common but I'm not afraid to walk around. Ross by the river is a Historic District, then as you move NW it's patchy, but as you cross 129 it's fine; lower income for sure though. Working-class neighborhood. Great rental market. Houses are old though. We have one that was built in 1898 and our youngest is 1929... Feel free to DM me if you want to know more.

We bought 2 houses at the tax auction in Butler County (Southwest Ohio).  We bought them at the auction in the Butler County Courthouse.  They alternate foreclosures and tax sales every other week, usually.  Go to 

https://www.butlersheriff.org/general-info/sheriff-sales/

This will give you the list for "tax sale" and "non tax sale" properties.  @Adam Walter is correct in saying you only need 10% when you win the sale and it can be a personal check.  Then it has usually been 30-45 days before you get notified that the process is complete and you go to the Sheriff's Office and pay the balance with a certified check in the lobby of the Butler County jail, lol.  

Both houses were total gut jobs.  The first we just finished flipping and made a nice profit.  The second we are still working on but will en up being be a rental. 

@Logan Miller would love to know how this turns out as my son should be closing on his first property that he plans to flip this week.  He's giving her 14 days to move out.  He's of course worried about her not leaving and having to "evict a little old lady".  Lol.  But the reality is that it's now your house and she's living there rent free.  She owes rent and will be evicted if she doesn't leave on her own.  Ohio is landlord friendly and the process only takes about 3 weeks total.  I'm with @Mike Cumbie, I wouldn't shut off utilities as that is a law in Ohio that you can't force someone out by turning off their utilities.  Ridiculous as it is, that's the law (in Ohio).  So, start eviction process.  That 3 day notice delivered to them just might get them moving.  They probably have family they can stay with and can rent a storage space.  

@Ryan Rush Keep that deposit and don't think twice about it!  That's on him.  As long as we learn something from a bad situation, it wasn't a wasted experience.

@Nathan Gesner  That is a great idea as we have had 2 people that rented sight unseen and I tried to tell them about the area, size etc.  They came anyway and loved the house both times but it could have easily gone the other way.  I'm totally making a "sight unseen" statement. Thanks!

Have I ever declined someone after approving/offering them the house? No.  However... 

I do not hold with the "first person that applied and is qualified is my tenant".  I process everyone who wants to apply for the house.  Then I verify employment, credit, background and current and past residences.  Then I score everyone in 6 areas.  Whoever gets the highest points could be offered the home.  As long as I apply the same scoring to each applicant there is no cause for concern about discrimination.  If during the process I find that something doesn't add up with their story, job, history, cleanliness, attitude etc. I can find a reason to deny their approval.  And it has NOTHING to do with the protective classes and everything to do with them not filling out the application completely, or omitting a previous address, or not getting back to me with responses in a timely manner, etc.  All these things can be used to deny an applicant if you get "negative energy" from them and think they will be a pain in the backside. 

If I go through all of this including several phone calls about why they want to move and general chit chat and decide to approve them... and then on the final walk through they show their true colors of being nut job?  It would take a person stronger than me to stop dead in my tracks and say... I'm sorry, I don't think this will be a good fit after all.  Have a nice day.  But it could be done I suppose.  Would love to hear others thoughts on how to not let this happen. 

Chad,

I would use the highest credit rating for the family/group.  But as long as you ALWAYS do it the same way it doesn't really matter.  For example you can't use family #1 score of 620 (highest) and family #2 527 (lowest).  

FYI , many times women won't have as good of a credit rating as their husband just because the husband has his name on everything!  This happened with my daughter and her husband.  She's the one who pays all the bills for the family but when they went to refinance... her credit was low 600's and hubby was high 700's.  She just didn't have enough credit in her name.  

As to the "other person" who plans to move in, make sure they are listed on the lease and are just as responsible as the others.

Hope that helps.

Robin

We haven't had the pleasure of an eviction yet but 2 of our friends have used Geoffrey Modderman for all their evictions in Butler and Hamilton county.  

PM me and I can give you his contact info.