All Forum Posts by: Shane Kelly

This house was likely an old single family converted to a duplex a very long time ago. You will see these in Cleveland from time to time. They're a little annoying from an investment perspective just because you having to pay for electric and gas for both units eats into your margins, but you just have to factor these into your numbers and offer accordingly. Unless you want to fork up the money to get it converted to 2 separate hot water tanks and furnaces, which will likely cost much more than it's worth.

 January is both the coldest and 2nd snowiest month of the year here, so while you might have to suffer through a blizzard and you better dress warm, it will be a very cheap time of the year to visit as no one else will be!

Hey! Happy to hear you were able to find a deal and that it's going well for you! Most don't even make it that far, so be proud. Off market deals are tough right now in my experience. Truly great wholesale deals aren't as plentiful as they used to be. And if you're reaching out to agents like myself who are connected with wholesalers to try to find off market deals, you'll probably have a hard time because of how the market is. Good deals go extremely fast, so we have to put one of our buyers to them instantly if we know it's worth going forward with. Because of that, if you're not one of our buyers that we've worked with before it can be a risk to let the deal slip out (not saying you're not a committed buyer, just saying that a lot aren't). With all of this being said, networking will be your best friend. Meet more people in the market, make a trip out here if you can. Things like that expand your basis to work from. Best of luck!

James updates the neighborhood grading scale every so often, so it's still accurate for the most part, but I do disagree with some of his grades. For example, the one you mentioned, North Collinwood (aka the Waterloo Arts District), is mostly C- to C+, not D+ and lower. I think the area is mostly trending upward too, especially the parts closer to Euclid. Some of the outskirts closer to South Collinwood to the South and Cleveland to the West are to be avoided still though.

There are many different ways to go about it, but actually just talking it through with the tenants is my suggestion to see who will pay more. Especially if you're not sure of their jobs/wages, how settled in they are, the condition of their unit, and if they are okay with leaving. These will all play into how much more they're willing to pay and if they're willing to stay.

Vacancies in Cleveland range fairly widely, but I always estimate for a month's vacancy (8%) in my numbers to be safe. If you're in a D or low-C class neighborhood, I'd assume for more.

I'm an agent who helps a lot of buyers with these walkthroughs, so I can say that an agent is a pretty common approach. If I'm not incentivised on the backend of the purchase/sale of it, then I charge so I'm not just working for free, but I do exactly what I would do otherwise. I will do pictures, walkthrough, facetime, whatever the client is looking for really. But as people have said above, I've seen PMs do them on occasion, but this is by far the rarest of the bunch as they are usually not focused on this end of the transaction. Most common other than agent is contractor though. Some contractors definitely refuse to do them just because there's not a set thing holding the buyer to follow through, so they don't want to waste their time. But this is not the case for all contractors. If you need me to help with a walkthrough, just let me know. Best of luck!

Coming from someone who is very frugal like myself, there are some places it's just not worth it to cheap out. I'm sure you don't want to hear that right now though, so let me focus on ideas for exits. You can obviously just list it back for sale with an agent, eat whatever loss there is, and try to get out of it asap. That might result is a decent loss of some money though depending on some factors. Another idea is taking a loan for the rehab. Depending on your current finances (which don't sound plentiful) you may be able to get private money or a loan for the work. Lastly, you can look at partnerships to try to save the deal. If you think you've got enough room in the backend of the property, you may be able to find someone to contribute money for the house in exchange for an ownership stake. I may be able to connect you with a client of mine who might be interested in it or can just help you walk through the options further. Just reach out to me if you want to. Either way, I hope this works out for you and you don't end up too upside down in the end!

 I'm quite a big fan of auctions but you summed it up well with saying "It seems like its a bit risky but also potential for great reward." I have been lucky enough with my clients to dodge bullets sometimes, but doing your due diligence is a huge part of it. Know what you're getting into and have boots on the ground.

I have a great lender who may be able to help guide you in what's best to do based on your situation.