All Forum Posts by: Sheri Ulm

I'm currently purchasing a property on LC in Ohio. 7 months into a 3 year LC. As a buyer it has worked well for me so far as I'm cash flowing on the property every month with this being a 5k house. The one thing I wanted to point out is that, in my deal, the taxes and insurance are part of my monthly payment to the seller and the seller then is still responsible for making the payments to the county and the insurance company when they come due.

@Brent CoombsI have rentals in Youngstown, Ohio and I have to pay a yearly Retail Registration fee to the city for each property I own and they did inspect the property the first time I registered it (my other property is a land contract and was registered by the sellers). I don't know what the rules are in other Ohio cities but that's my experience in Youngstown.

When I bought my first rental in Ohio I paid cash and the attorney drawing up the paperwork had a small amount, I believe it was $1 or $10, as the sale price for public record. I actually asked him to change it to the actual sales price since I wasn't sure how it would work out and if I ended up having to resell I didn't want someone thinking I paid less since I would be looking to try and get my money back. I still have the property 3 years later. I would talk to a real estate attorney in the area or perhaps a local real estate agent or someone at a title company could answer your question.

I live in CA and have properties in Ohio. I  use Tax Act to do my own taxes and due to on paper losses I did not have to file an Ohio tax return for the last two years. I did have to fill a CA return since my husband had income here. Tax Act walks you thru the process and let's you know if you must file then if/when you have to file in 2 states ( in this case CA and Ohio) it gives you the forms for both. You do have to pay to file the state returns so it costs extra for filling the additional state form.

@Jen Kurtz

I have one in the North Heights area, 1 in the Buckeye Plat area and 1 in the City of Campbell. I use an independent handyman. And yes, I agree.

@Nathan Bibb

 I'm in CA and I own 3 rentals in YT that I've never seen and I'm looking to buy more soon. They key is a good team as I kind of got screwed in the beginning but now that I have a great manager/handyman things are running smoothly and I am getting good cash flow on ultra cheap homes. 

It's nice to hear a fresh perspective about Youngstown from someone not on my payroll since it seems so few people are investing in the area for whatever reason. Oh well, more properties for us. Good luck in your ventures, I hope it goes really well for you. Heck, maybe we can even do some business together one day.

Land contracts can be good, in my opinion, if the terms are good. I bought a property this way last year and even in a worse case scenario (I make all the payments and never get the deed) I'll come out ahead having made money on the deal. 5k house, 1k down, seller financed 4k at 3% for 3 years, $150 month payment PITI, $1350 in repairs to get rent ready, rented to good tenants at $450 month. Cash flow is $255 month and I'll hit break even with what I have into it ($2350) in August. After that the cash flow is pure profit.

I have seen duplexes listed for sale on land contract in the area of Ohio I invest in but my investments are what some would classify as low C neighborhoods... No war zones but vandalism can be an Issue in vacancies if your not careful etc... Where I live in CA most people don't even know what a land contract is and in 10 years of working as an agent here I never saw one. So I would say they may or may not be available depending on the area you are investing in but if one person says there aren't any I would look for a second opinion or run an ad on Craigslist or something seeking out people willing to do one.  Another option you may want to consider is just s seller finance deal where you get the deed at close instead of the land contract.

I just did a land contract on a property the sellers owned outright and I pay them the taxes and insurance included in my payment. They retained the insurance they had in place and provided me copies of the policy while we were in escrow and will provide new ones each year or at such time anything were to change.

I recently bought one I'm holding as a rental and my interest rate is 3%.