All Forum Posts by: Ryan Evans

Thanks @Andrew Buchanan , those are some very good points. I know it's a tricky situation, so I guess I'll have to just be extra dilligent to cover all the exit strategies and worse case scenarios and get them on paper.

I grew up in Washington State and would love to build a dream cabin in the next couple years out in the mountains. The problem is that what I'm looking for would require a pretty big mortgage. 

Two of my absolute best friends from childhood (whom I've lived with and get along with great) are talking about going in on a cabin for all of us to use and split 3 ways. Aside from all the house rules about usage, bills, pets, family, maintenance, etc., I'm not sure the best way to structure a potential deal. 

The issue is the other two guys are both newly married. Frankly, I'm not sure their marriages will last. If one or both of them gets divorced and their spouses get half of their combined assets, I can imagine it would mean serious complications for the cabin. 

If a divorce happens, I don't want it to have any impact on ownership or rights to the cabin between the three of us guys. Would that require both of the couples getting a postnuptial agreement before buying? Or is there a better way to keep the property between just the three of us and not the five of us. 

Wow some of you guys make me feel like I'm late to the party and I'm only 25! Hopefully, I will have the first deal done before turning 26. No better time to start than now!

Yikes! Well i'm not particularly looking to buy in a warzone so I'll keep an eye out on the westside and toledo. Thanks for the input everyone and that's an awesome resource you put together @James Wise ! It's going to be tough for me to go for something in the 70k range. If you had $25k to spend (possibly up to 35-40 if I borrowed a bit), what would you be looking for? Maybe a land contract with a good down payment? If so, any idea how easy that would be? 

@Paul Parker  what's the price range on your units? I'm definitely interested, but don't want to waste anyone's time if they're out of my budget.

I just had a quick browse through Toledo and you're right @Linda Labbe. I'll have to look into there as well. 

The buy and hold strategy is why I'm looking at Ohio so it's good to get some reinforcement on what I've been seeing. @Dan Mitchen I wish I had the budget for something in a nicer part of town, but the way I look at it, if I'm working in a lower price range that will bring a different set of problems, at least it will be a good lower cost learning experience. 

There is a great neighborhood map of Cleveland posted somewhere on BP, but it doesn't include much of the East or North side. Does anyone know if the area around Cleveland Lakefront State Park is any good? It looks like the lake side of the train tracks has some deals.

I haven't done it myself, but my friends in the same situation have done quite well getting a bigger 4-5 bed place to themselves and renting the rooms. You can get some basic landlord experience, but be around to keep an eye on things. They'll pay your mortgage and you won't have as much pressure when looking for the next place. Since you're young and a musician, you could probably draw in some likeminded tennants that you might not mind living with while looking at the next deal. 

Hello all!

I'm looking into some duplexes in Cleveland as my first ever property. I've been living around the world for a while, but I'm from Seattle so I'm not familiar with the market beyond the research I've been doing in the forums and such. 

For whatever reason, there are quite a lot of duplexes in Cleveland for sale. They seem to be renting for 500-750 per unit and they're selling from 10k on the really low end. I would love to be all in on one for 20-25k cash and bring in 1000/mo as a buy and hold, but that seems way too good to be true. I feel like I'm missing something.

Does anyone have experience in the area with those sorts of units? Are they easy/hard to rent? (Obviously, depends on the neighborhood and I know there is a good amount of crime)

I could fly out to buy/live there for a while to get it fixed/rented since I'm taking a break from work. It would be ideal to be hands on for my first deal.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!