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Category: rental-property

  • How To Get The Best Return on A Rental Property in Cincinnati & Dayton | Ohio Cash Buyers LLC

    Owning a rental property (or several) is a great way to make passive income. Andrew Carnegie once said:

    Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate.

    But before you go diving in, there are some things you should know about getting the best return. We will review some things to consider in our latest blog.

    How To Get The Best Return on A Rental Property in Cincinnati & Dayton

    Your Geography

    Within each geographical area, are sub-markets. A home on one side of the street might rent for more than a home on the other side. Make sure you have a good understanding of what these sub-markets are doing real estate wise. What sub-markets are seeing the highest rents in your area?

    Add Perceived Value

    Often times you can come up with a few low-cost upgrades that will make a big impact on the space. Of course, there is always a fresh coat of paint. You can do this yourself and completely revive a room. If cabinets are weathered, you can consider a fresh stain or coat of paint to give them new life. Update fixtures such as faucets, doorknobs, and drawer handles. In some cases, sheet vinyl can be laid right on top of old, dingy tiles. Small cosmetic fixes can go a long way to increase the property’s value.

    Don’t Forget The Yard

    Whether people are buying or renting, it is important that they get a great first impression of the home. A neat and tidy yard, with some low maintenance flowers, will make people want to come in and see more. Your curb appeal should be warm and inviting. In addition, you will want to spruce up the backyard or patio area, depending on what your particular rental offers. Treat the outdoor space as if it were another room in the house. Create another space people will want to use and it can turn into a huge selling point for your prospective renters.

    Whats It Going to Cost You?

    You should put serious thought into your fixed and variable expenses. Your fixed expenses include things like taxes, HOA fees, insurance, property management, etc. Your variable costs would be things such as repairs, vacancies and turnover costs and CapEx. CapEx is the IRS’s way of describing major repairs that are not part of routine maintenance. A new roof for example. It’s safe to put away about 6%of your gross rental income towards CapEx costs, 5-7% away for repairs and another 5% or so for vacancy and turnover costs.

    Another trick investors use is the 50% rule. This simply states that 50% of your rental income will need to go towards expenses and maintenance on the property. If you follow this rule, you should be able to generate positive cash flow from your rental property.

    Our Tips:

    Ultimately you want a low-maintenance tenant, who is timely with their rent payments.

    • To ensure you are getting the highest return for your rental property, look for someone who wants to rent long term.
    • Create justifiable rent increases. Make repairs and upgrades coincide with the lease renewal. Add new energy efficient windows at the same time you are raising the rent so the tenant will feel like it is a fair trade
    • Condo’s can be a low-maintenance alternative to a single family home. Just make sure you factor in the HOA fees and that the community is approving of your desire to rent out the unit.
    • Make sure you have an iron clad lease that covers EVERYTHING. Don’t get stuck paying utility or landscaping bills that should have been the responsibility of the tenant.

    The more you rent out your properties, the less overwhelming it will all become. To get the best return on a rental property, make sure you are offering a house that you would want to live in yourself.

    Are you interested in getting the highest returns possible on a rental property in Cincinnati & Dayton? We can help! Send us a message now, or give our office a call today! We can’t wait to talk to you!

  • Sell Inherited Property: The Tired Landlord

    The house was a rental. She had inherited the property from her mother-in-law. The renters that were living in it were not paying their rent. She didn’t know exactly how to handle the situation – she’d never had to evict anyone before, and she didn’t want to have to sink the time and money necessary to go through the whole eviction process to remove her bad tenants.

    The house needed work, too. Her late husband had started trying to do the repairs himself, but there was still a lot left to fix, and the tenants hadn’t done anything to make the condition of the home any better. In fact, they had just made it even worse. What was she going to do? How do you sell a house with bad tenants in it that needs repairs? How do you sell a house without paying commissions? Can you sell a house like that fast and walk away better for it? She felt stuck!

    Selling an inherited house wasn’t something she did every day. Her options at this point seemed to be:

    • Evicting the tenants through an attorney, then spending thousands of dollars on repairs, then listing it with a Realtor, then hoping it sells. Wow. That’s at least several months of stress, hassles, and worries, not to mention the actual financial commitment! How long would it take to evict (five weeks or more, read more about Ohio evictions) ? How much would that cost? After that, how long would the repairs take to complete? How much would that cost? What if the contractors did bad work or took forever to finish? Then she’d have to list it with an Agent, and how much would that cost? How long would it take to find a buyer? What if the buyer required her to do even more work to the home? What if their lender fell through and she had to start the actual selling process ALL OVER again?? This was NOT what she wanted to do.
    • Ignore the problem until the city condemned the house or the tenants managed to destroy it entirely. Geez, that would be horrible. She still had to pay taxes on it. She was running deeper and deeper into the red with each passing month.
    • Find a homebuyer willing to buy houses as is. If she could skip the eviction process and the repairs, and find someone who would buy an inherited property without repairs, then she could get out from under this house!

    “We buy houses for cash, any condition, any situation! Get a fair cash offer for your home, no obligations.”

    She read the words several times before she decided that it was worth her time to talk to us and see exactly who we were and what we were all about. She was skeptical at first, of course. It sounded too good to be true. Were there really “professional” homebuyers around that bought houses like hers for cash for a fair price? Since there were no obligations, she had nothing to lose by chatting with us.

    Tony answered her call. She explained her whole situation after he reassured her that we were real and truly local. He was no stranger to this type of situation, and he knew exactly how to help! Yes, we could buy the house as is, in its current condition, and we wouldn’t ask her to do any repairs. Yes, we could buy an inherited home with bad tenants in it and she wouldn’t have to worry about them. Yes, we could close in one week or in ten weeks. Yes, we would be paying cash for the house. Yes, we would be walking her through every step until closing!

    I needed to get out. Get from underneath it – it was a big weight on my shoulders. And you made it so easy, the next day I felt like… the weight of the WORLD had been taken off. SO easy, thank you!”

    We buy houses like this every single day in the Cincinnati and Dayton regions. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be stressful. Now she feels a HUGE sense of RELIEF. We are very happy that we were able to help, and we look forward to speaking to YOU if you ever find yourself in a situation similar to hers, or the many others we’ve worked with over the years!