That said, in searching for my next property I am finding a hard time wanting to do another hard money loan.

Ohio markets show up 3 times in Zillow’s 2024 hottest markets, with Columbus and Cincinnati taking the top 2 and 3 spots.

Job Growth3. 

Working 2 jobs and going to college has way too much time being taken up for just an okay paycheck and I don’t want to live that way. 

For background information, I'm a W-2 contract employee who makes 80k+ a year and I have been working at this job since January of this year.

After everything was fixed and they listed the unit, apparently they claimed that I was not allowed to have any understanding of who would be renting my home due to potential bias and discrimination (this is the first time I have not been able to view applicants general profile (credit score/occupation(removing any identity markers)), but fine, I let them choose the tenant and so far there hasn't been any issues.

You should consider having a sit down with the tenant and discuss whether they will be able to pay on time.

If you set aside funds for capex, taxes, insurance, or other expenses that don't occur monthly, transfer those funds to Savings each month and hold them there until it's time to spend them.

No matter where you are in your career, most jobs require more from you than just showing up and doing your job.

You should still be able to find a few lenders to do smaller rehabs like that, as long as the ARV supports it, and often times the BRRRR tends to work better that way because if it is in a good Sec 8 area with rents that support the ARV, the refi can work out well.Happy to connect and talk through details if you are interested!