All Forum Posts by: Savannah Walbert

Thanks for the reply! I may not have been clear enough: the ADU is already built, we will just need to do cosmetic fixes (literally painting and rebuilding the shower just because it is super old). The ADU isn't zoned to be there though, so I am wondering how much headache it is going to be to get it permitted and to get the lot re-zoned properly. If you have any advice that'd be great!!

Hello! My fiance and I are looking at a deal in East Linden. The house is a 3/2 and has an ADU with a kitchen, and bathroom. It looks like the ADU has not been properly zoned to be considered it's own unit, so according to the tax assessors report the property is a 3-bed SFH. Obviously, the difference in rental income between a 3-bed SFH vs a 4-bed SFH will make a big difference on this deal. It would be even better if we could get it zoned to rent out the house as a 3/2 and separately rent out the ADU as a 1/1.

If anyone that sees this has done something like this in Columbus, we would love to get any info on how the process went, how much did the permits and inspections cost, etc.

Also, if anyone knows whether or not we could even rent out an ADU through sec-8 that would also be helpful, as we will definitely consider using sec-8 to rent out the property if it can get us higher rents.

We are going to be contacting the city's zoning dept right away to verify with them that this would even be allowed at this address, and to try and get a rough estimate of how much permits etc will cost us. Any insight at all here would be so much appreciated!

Hello! My fiancé and I are starting our REI journey and have started to put in some offers on properties in Columbus OH. Just made an offer on a place in the North Hilltop neighborhood that has a high likelihood of being accepted and now we are transitioning from constantly crunching numbers on deals to really solidifying a great team. (We already have a realtor and lender we are comfortable with, but other pieces of the core 4 still need to be put in place)

1. Home inspection company - First thing that is going to come up is home inspection. We want to make sure we are getting an experienced inspector with a reputable company, but we also definitely do not want to be over-paying for inspection. What is a standard/fair price for inspection? Any specific adders we should request?

2. Contractor - The property we offered on will need cosmetic rehab, but most major capex items (roof, water heater, furnace, electrical) have been updated within the last 5-8 years. Our realtor has a couple of contractors he recommends, and we will definitely be getting their quotes and considering them. We do however want to consider some contractors that aren’t associated with the realtor we are working with, if for no other reason than verifying cost estimates and shopping around a bit. So any recommendations for contractors in Columbus who are good at working with OOS investors would be much appreciated. We would rather have someone who will work quickly and get the job done right over someone who is a bit cheaper but is going to do bad work.

3. Property management - In the same vain as the contractors, our realtor has some PM recs but we do want to shop around a bit on this as well. We know that this piece can absolutely make or break the investment and want to make sure we have a solid, honest PM company.


Thanks so much and looking forward to getting everyone’s recommendations!