All Forum Posts by: Samuel Diouf

Hey Kendra, There are a couple great PM companies in Cleveland. I'd be glad to send you some referrals.

When looking online, I would make sure to read what the reviews are actually saying because a lot of people are leaving bad reviews on these companies because they either had a bad experience with real estate and want to point fingers or are unhappy tenants.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets Aaron!

Cleveland, OH is a strong market to invest in! I started investing here after moving to Ohio from Florida for the growing market. I spend all day sourcing deals now.

Hey Zalman, for value-add deals in Columbus, we're seeing margins stay around 75-80% of the all in cost. 

The deals that hit the market are usually going to be overbid on by local buyers who have in-house crews. The majority of the good value-add deals we're seeing are coming from off-market opportunities. 

Hey Rick, a lot of OOS investors use a local real estate agent to represent them on transactions with wholesalers.

The agent can negotiate on your behalf to make sure you can do due diligence and that you have the right protection in the contract. 

I'd also recommend to have an attorney review your real estate contracts any time that you're using contracts that aren't standard from the Board of Realtors.

Out-of-state/virtual investing could be a good option for your current situation as it sounds like if you invest locally now it could still end up having to be managed virtually. 

If you decide to invest virtually... Once you get your systems down, you have a real estate business model that you can take to any market and still be successful. I personally work with plenty of out-of-state investors (A lot from California) who are seeing great success here in Ohio, so it's definitely a proven strategy. 

Read this article on the "core 4". It explains the team that you should develop to have a strong foundation under you while investing remotely.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/core-four-real-estate-team

-855-417-7107

Hey Jonathan, Cleveland, OH is a strong market to invest in! I started investing here after moving to Ohio from Florida for the growing market. I spend all day sourcing deals now.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets Ouattara!

A great way to start is by attending RE events and joining a local investors association. You can usually find some events by doing a simple google search.

When looking for that mix of both appreciation and cash-flow... I would look for markets that have a solid price to rent ratio while also showing signs of economic growth. Does the market have any drivers that are promoting population growth? Are average incomes increasing with valid reasoning behind why? 

Chat GPT is a great resource you can use to get a solid list of markets. 

Just remember at the end of the day, you can be successful in any market it's just up to how much work you put into gaining experience and a network in the given area. 

Hey Ally, one of the biggest things to keep in mind when looking through the reviews on these PM companies is that a lot of unhappy tenants make reviews and also some property owners decide to post negative reviews the second problems come up with their investment even if it may not have been at the fault of the PM in place. 

I always recommend doing a deeper dive into all the reviews to see if there really are any negative patterns or if the majority of the reviews seem pretty vague. 

I'd be glad to help you review further or share a few of my go-to PMs in the Cleveland area! 

Hey Alev, a lot of the fundamentals for small MFHs are similar too SFH rentals. Things start to change once you get into the larger MFH space.

A lot of investors based in markets that are overpriced for cash-flowing rentals are choosing to purchase their investments OOS in the Midwest because of the affordability and numbers making more sense.

There's a lot of great markets in Ohio where prices are still low enough to find 1% rule deals and there's a ton of appreciation happening in certain markets as well. I myself and a lot of investors I'm working with are investing in markets like Cleveland for the high cash-flow and Columbus for the appreciation.