All Forum Posts by: Zeke Liston

Hello! I'm looking for recommendations for a reliable attorney well-versed in Ohio real estate market. My real estate investments in Ohio are financed with private money loans. Since I'm based in California, I need an attorney licensed in Ohio who is familiar with private money financing.

My current attorney's responsiveness hasn't been ideal. Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! 

Hi Simon,

Thank you for your input. What are some websites that would be beneficial to look at to evaluate properties in the Columbus area other than Zillow? Where are some areas that you have invested in?

I'm new to investing in real estate and am about ready to make my first purchase in an investment property. I was steered towards Columbus OH by an agent I met here on BP. Then, another trusted colleague told me to look in Raleigh and Durham NC. I have been speaking with agents in both places. Before being told to look in Raleigh I was pretty sold on the amount of growth Columbus is showing and all the Tech happening in the surrounding areas. But after speaking with an agent in NC, I'm equally as sold on options in the Durham/Raleigh area. 

The agent in Columbus was encouraging of buying long term rentals in C neighborhoods while the agent in Raleigh was promoting short term rentals in B areas in Raleigh and Durham. Both options seemed to have listings in similar price ranges (250-400k range).

Maybe there isn't a right or wrong here. But I wanted to get more thoughts on these two options from other investors to see if anyone had been looking in these areas as well. The agent in Raleigh pointed out that the jobs coming into Columbus, in particular at the 20B chip plant would likely be more blue collar jobs vs. the higher paid tech work that is entering into Raleigh, which I believe she said was growing by 5,000 residents per...month? 

My goals are appreciation over everything. However, cash flow is always great and having both would be incredible (duh). Hoping to start in a market and really get to know it so that I can buy more over the next few years. 

Any insight welcome. 

Thanks!

Hi BP Community, 

I'm in need of some general advice. I'm an out of state investor focused on SFR/long term tenants with a total of 2 properties acquired since 2020. I generally look for properties on the MLS that have been sitting for a bit/need a little work. I'm in a position to acquire more, but have recently run into a lot of dead-ends. I'm working with a new investor friendly agent who has brought now 3 properties that were are found to be money pits upon inspection. Obviously I haven't gone through with any of these, but it has been a little bit of a time waste.

My question is, what are the basics that should be expected from an investor-friendly agent? Please note, I do a much of my own research as I can, but there are certain things I can't do simply because I'm out of state. Ideally I would want him to drive by the home, snap some pictures of outside/inside problem areas to give me ANY idea of repairs expected before an offer is put it. He doesn't seem to want to help in that department and instead provides buffered repairs numbers that are based on nothing.

I will say, I do have a great PM that is always there come inspection and tells me the hard truth, but I don't want to continue wasting his time on duds. Ideally I want more thoroughly vetted properties before putting in an offer. Any tips from other out of state investors out there?

Please be kind! :) 

Hi,

I saw some gurus offer classes to invest in out of state section 8 rentals. Also, I read Greene’s and Turner’s book to invest out of state. Though it sounds straightforward to hire a PM and get the property rented, for some reason it gives me cold feet. Is this doable and great or have you experienced a headache?

Best,

Mario

I['m looking for some recommendations. I'm closing on a Duplex this weekend. I need a good property manager for someone just starting to invest.  Does anyone have someone they've worked with for a year or more that they are happy with?

 I posted this in starting out but got no response. I hope this is the right forum. Still feeling my way around here. Before I sign on the dotted line, I would like to get ideas on the best use of the available seed money I have. I am a middle aged woman looking to get into real estate. Currently, I have $300K in cash that I want to use and buy a rental (SFR) property selling for $250K. My plan is to pay cash and wait until interest rate improves, then refinance and pull out $150k for a down payment on a second property.

I will like to know if this sounds like a good use of this money. I am hopefully, 9-10 years away from retirement, and plan on owning 7-10 rental SFR in that time frame. So, before I close on this house, I would like to hear all ideas on the best use of this money taking my goals to account.

Hey folks,

Craigslist used to be my go-to spot to list long term rentals.  Craigslist wasn't pretty, but it was easy to use, and it worked (I found lots of great tenants via Craigslist) ...unfortunately, over the years, Craigslist produced fewer and fewer tenants, and more and more spam.  :( 

These days, nearly all my new tenants come from Facebook Marketplace.  

Ironically, platforms designed for real estate (Zillow, Apartments.com, Rentler, etc.) produce very few tenants for me, compared to FB Marketplace (and I also find a lot of their functionality to be user un-friendly, from the landlord side). ...you'd think that platforms custom-made for real estate would make the process a snap for landlords, but it takes me a lot longer to post and manage rental listings on Zillow or Rentler than it did on Craigslist. Plus, Zillow, Rentler and the other real estate platforms tend to have all sorts of unnecessary hoops to jump through for landlords, and I find a lot of their design very un-intuitive (I remember spending waaayyy too much time just trying to figure out simple things in Rentler).  ...why can't they make it easier?

Does anyone still list rentals on Craigslist anymore?  ...if so, how is it performing?

Which platform do most of your tenants come from? 

Has anyone seen data/reports on which platforms prospective tenants gravitate to the most?

Am I the only one frustrated with the cumbersome functionality of real estate platforms (Zillow, Rentler, etc.) for listing rentals?

Any suggestions on how to get more tenants from the real estate-focused platforms (Zillow, Rentler, etc.)?

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

Hey! I am planning to buy my first investment property. I am looking at Licking County, Jeffersonville, Columbus, Cleveland, OH; McAllen, TX; and Fayetteville, NC. Can anyone convince me why I should start investing in these areas and share more details based on their knowledge/experience? This would also help me narrow it down.  

Thanks! 

Hello BP, looking forward a reputable and honest property management in Toledo Ohio for residential properties. Have been striking out, hoping the third time is a charm. Please share suggestions and experiences.

Thanks a lot