Guys I know you mean well... but don't answer whoelsaling questions if you are not wholesaling.Your contract is NOT "ultimately determined by your end buyer".

-John  My favorite C-ish areas are probably Old Brooklyn, Brooklyn Centre, Clark Fulton, Elyria, Lorain and all of 44111.If you haven't seen it already, I suggest reading The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods for a look at what, will buy you what, in each of the Cleveland neighborhoods.

FHA loan, traditional House Hack financing.Earnest money: $10,000Used 3% Realtor Commission to contribute towards FHA down payment; cash due at closing: $1,200Rehab #1 was financed via a HELOC against House Hack #1 (purchased a SFR in Dec 2015)Materials were funded by multiple credit card accounts: a stressful way to do it...Rehab #2 including materials were ultimately reimbursed by HELOC against subject triplex, after Rehab #2 completion How did you add value to the deal?

I wrestled with it and ultimately choose to invest elsewhere.  

Ultimately, you are in charge of your funds, so you will want to make sure you get good at understanding your numbers, cash flow, etc.#5 Build your team.

Rules derived after multiple deals and a meticulous understanding of your local market are powerful and that’s the ultimate goal.

Diversification is an important part of any strategy as many have stated, but you can still be entirely passive (if that's your ultimate goal) and be diverse as well. 

The seller is the ultimate decision maker, not the listing agent. 

With high risk comes high reward but you do not want to end up in a position where you lose one or both of your properties.The decision ultimately comes down to you.Additionally, you can try looking in areas that are still nice but a step below this one.

Being on some busy streets is the ultimate goal....