All Forum Posts by: Slocomb Reed

@Sean Carroll's thoughts are going to be shared by a whole lot of investors in the area, flippers and landlords alike, and that's definitely a great piece of advice. 

And a lot of landlords prefer to avoid Cincinnati Public like @Joseph Cornwell.

I think a lot of it comes down to your personal risk tolerance and what you're trying to do. Flipping is a little more cut-and-dry, but there's good money to be made as a buy-and-hold investor in lower-income neighborhoods and places you wouldn't personally want to live or even go to at night. Plus, if you're investing from Washington state, it comes down to hiring a good property manager who knows how to handle the area you own in more than anything. I have a PM who does really well with the parts of Avondale that most investors avoid.

@Michael Hooper it could be something as simple as the age/make of your boilers. Man, to save $4k/yr, you could justify spending some serious cash on newer more efficient boilers.

Also, have you considered instituting a RUBS (rental utilities billing system) with your Cincy apartments? I don't know if its the majority, but a lot of tenants in the Greater Cincy area pay their own gas/heat and expect that when they're looking for a new place to live. I have a RUBS on my 3-unit for similar reasons.

@Ray Loveless if you'll be buying from Utah and hiring a local professional management company for your Ohio properties, I'd suggest spending a lot of your time looking for good managers and letting them tell you how evictions are handled. Plus, tenant screening may be even more important that the state's eviction laws, since the goal is to get the right tenants in the property in the first place so that you have to evict as infrequently as possible. That again leads me to concern myself more with the management than the state-specific laws. But from what I've heard about other states, Ohio is pretty landlord-friendly.

If you're looking for PMs in the Greater Cincinnati area, I'd be happy to send you some of my contacts. Let me know!

@Roman M. thanks for commenting! So why would a private lender, offering a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage on my personal residence (a 3-family), state that Dodd Frank regulations are the reason he can't lend to me?

Hey BP Forum Readers,

Who can explain how the Dodd Frank regulations affect the way private money and hard money loans can be written for investment properties and owner-occupied properties? And do you know of a helpful resource for understanding this?

I've had a few  hard/private lenders tell me that they can't lend on owner-occupied properties. Whether they're single family or multi unit, whether it's a short term loan or a 30-year fixed rate loan, owner-occupied is apparently a no-go. Why is that? And does Dodd Frank regulate loans on non-owner occupied properties at all? I have a few specific examples that I'll share in response to your comments.

Thanks y'all!

@Damian White those don't seem like such great numbers for Roselawn. Not bad, just not great. It was smart of you to look into the criminal history of the street, that's a serious factor in areas like Roselawn that are street-to-street when it comes to crime.

Thinking big-picture, I'd recommend that you be diligent in your insurance search too. What would an insurance claim look like for stolen pipes causing water damage and super high water bills? Or for several busted windows, or stolen appliances?

@Paul Sian would be a great resource for explaining to you exactly how the dowry laws could affect your wife's liability in the property. He's a RE attorney as well as an agent and investor.

@Tom Lipps What type of property is it? How "residential?" Are we talking a duplex on a majority SFR cul de sac, or a 10-unit building on a major street? You can find both in Oak Hills Schools

The lack of 3-bed rental inventory, especially considering the number of renting parents that look to get their kids into Oak Hills (and stay in one place for several years!), makes me think that the conversion is totally justified.

The more residential and "neighborhoody" your building feels, the more likely I personally would be to convert to three bedrooms, so long as it doesn't mess up the floor plan too much.

Hi @Melissa Horwath I'll send you a PM. Thanks for the mention @Grant Rothenburger!

@Sean Carroll I'd love to connect with you on this. Just PMed you. Thanks for your post! I'm a Cincy investor and agent and my go-to GC has gotten really expensive in the past year, often bidding 1.5x to 1.75x what I or my clients are planning to pay for a job. He and his crews do excellent work, but often the deal doesn't justify using someone that expensive like @Paul Sian was saying.

I'm looking at a triplex in North Avondale (Cincinnati) on Friday near the corner of Reading Rd and S Fred Shuttlesworth. The neighborhood is street-by-street from D/C class all the way to nice big historic homes. Rents are currently $650, $650, and $350 (small third floor unit), The roof needs repaired or replaced (flat shingles) and it likely needs other cosmetic repairs.

Seller started at $65,000 but said he'd be willing to sell it for less if I didn't give him a lot of hassle. If you were me, planning to meet the seller at the property in a few days, what questions would you have for the seller?

And if you're familiar with the area, what do you think of that part of North Avondale?