Ultimate Ohio County Real Estate Investing Guide for 2024

The acronym BRRRR is a description of a long-term lease strategy — Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. This is a strategy to expand your investment assets rather than acquire a single rental property. It is a must that you are qualified to receive a “cash-out” refinance for the method to be successful.

The After Repair Value (ARV) of the asset has to equal more than the complete buying and refurbishment expenses. The home is refinanced using the ARV and the difference, or equity, is given to you in cash. You acquire your next house with the cash-out amount and do it all over again. You add income-producing investment assets to your balance sheet and rental revenue to your cash flow.

When your investment real estate collection is substantial enough, you may contract out its management and get passive income. Find one of the best investment property management firms in Ohio County WV with a review of our complete directory.

Factors to Consider

Population Growth

The growth or downturn of an area’s population is an accurate benchmark of its long-term desirability for rental property investors. An expanding population often signals vibrant relocation which means new tenants. Relocating employers are drawn to rising cities providing secure jobs to people who move there. This equates to dependable renters, higher lease income, and a greater number of likely homebuyers when you need to unload the rental.

Property Taxes

Property taxes, regular maintenance spendings, and insurance directly hurt your profitability. Excessive real estate tax rates will negatively impact a property investor’s profits. Markets with unreasonable property taxes aren’t considered a dependable situation for short- and long-term investment and need to be bypassed.

Price to Rent Ratio

Price to rent ratio (p/r) is a market signal that shows you how much you can expect to charge for rent. If median home values are strong and median rents are weak — a high p/r, it will take longer for an investment to repay your costs and reach good returns. A large price-to-rent ratio tells you that you can set less rent in that location, a smaller p/r tells you that you can charge more.

Median Gross Rents

Median gross rents are an accurate yardstick of the approval of a rental market under examination. Median rents should be going up to validate your investment. You will not be able to achieve your investment goals in an area where median gross rents are shrinking.

Median Population Age

The median residents’ age that you are on the hunt for in a dynamic investment environment will be near the age of salaried individuals. If people are migrating into the district, the median age will have no problem remaining in the range of the workforce. When working-age people are not entering the city to replace retirees, the median age will rise. That is a weak long-term financial picture.

Employment Base Diversity

A diverse employment base is something a wise long-term rental property investor will look for. If working individuals are concentrated in only several dominant enterprises, even a small interruption in their business could cost you a great deal of renters and expand your risk enormously.

Unemployment Rate

You will not enjoy a stable rental cash flow in a region with high unemployment. Non-working individuals can’t buy products or services. This can generate a large number of layoffs or shrinking work hours in the community. Existing tenants could delay their rent in these circumstances.

Income Rates

Median household and per capita income will show you if the tenants that you require are living in the area. Existing wage statistics will reveal to you if wage growth will permit you to mark up rental charges to achieve your profit predictions.

Number of New Jobs Created

The vibrant economy that you are searching for will generate a high number of jobs on a constant basis. A market that creates jobs also boosts the number of participants in the housing market. Your objective of leasing and acquiring additional assets needs an economy that will produce more jobs.

School Ratings

The ranking of school districts has a significant influence on housing market worth throughout the community. Highly-ranked schools are a requirement of business owners that are thinking about relocating. Business relocation produces more renters. New arrivals who buy a home keep real estate values up. You can’t discover a vibrantly growing housing market without reputable schools.

Property Appreciation Rates

The foundation of a long-term investment plan is to keep the investment property. You want to ensure that the chances of your investment increasing in price in that area are good. You don’t want to allot any time navigating markets that have depressed property appreciation rates.

A short-term rental is a furnished unit where a renter lives for less than 30 days. The per-night rental prices are typically higher in short-term rentals than in long-term ones. Short-term rental units may involve more frequent repairs and cleaning.

House sellers waiting to move into a new residence, excursionists, and individuals on a business trip who are stopping over in the location for about week like to rent apartments short term. Any property owner can transform their residence into a short-term rental unit with the know-how given by virtual home-sharing portals like VRBO and AirBnB. This makes short-term rental strategy a good way to try residential property investing.

Vacation rental owners require interacting directly with the tenants to a larger extent than the owners of longer term leased units. That determines that property owners handle disputes more often. You might need to cover your legal bases by engaging one of the best Ohio County law firms for real estate.

Factors to Consider

Short-Term Rental Income

Initially, find out how much rental revenue you must earn to achieve your anticipated profits. An area’s short-term rental income levels will quickly show you if you can look forward to accomplish your estimated income range.

Median Property Prices

You also must decide how much you can allow to invest. To check if a city has possibilities for investment, look at the median property prices. You can calibrate your property search by analyzing median values in the community’s sub-markets.

Price Per Square Foot

Price per square foot can be affected even by the look and layout of residential units. If you are looking at similar kinds of property, like condominiums or detached single-family homes, the price per square foot is more consistent. You can use the price per square foot data to get a good general picture of property values.

Short-Term Rental Occupancy Rate

The necessity for additional rental units in an area can be seen by studying the short-term rental occupancy rate. A high occupancy rate shows that a new supply of short-term rental space is necessary. When the rental occupancy levels are low, there is not much space in the market and you should explore elsewhere.

Short-Term Rental Cash-on-Cash Return

To understand whether it’s a good idea to invest your capital in a certain investment asset or market, evaluate the cash-on-cash return. Divide the Net Operating Income (NOI) by the total amount of cash put in. The result is a percentage. When an investment is high-paying enough to recoup the capital spent soon, you will receive a high percentage. Lender-funded investment purchases can reap stronger cash-on-cash returns as you’re spending less of your own money.

Average Short-Term Rental Capitalization (Cap) Rates

One metric shows the market value of a property as a cash flow asset — average short-term rental capitalization (cap) rate. In general, the less money a property will cost (or is worth), the higher the cap rate will be. When cap rates are low, you can prepare to pay more money for real estate in that area. The cap rate is determined by dividing the Net Operating Income (NOI) by the asking price or market value. The result is the yearly return in a percentage.

Local Attractions

Short-term rental apartments are desirable in locations where visitors are drawn by activities and entertainment venues. Tourists visit specific cities to attend academic and athletic activities at colleges and universities, be entertained by competitions, support their kids as they participate in kiddie sports, have the time of their lives at yearly festivals, and go to amusement parks. Famous vacation sites are found in mountain and beach areas, along lakes, and national or state nature reserves.

When a real estate investor buys a house for less than the market value, fixes it and makes it more attractive and pricier, and then resells the house for a profit, they are called a fix and flip investor. Your estimate of improvement expenses should be correct, and you should be capable of buying the property for lower than market value.

You also have to evaluate the housing market where the home is positioned. Look for a city with a low average Days On Market (DOM) metric. As a “house flipper”, you’ll need to put up for sale the improved house right away so you can avoid carrying ongoing costs that will lessen your profits.

To help distressed residence sellers discover you, list your firm in our catalogues of companies that buy homes for cash in Ohio County WV and property investment firms in Ohio County WV.

In addition, search for the best bird dogs for real estate investors in Ohio County WV. Experts in our catalogue concentrate on acquiring distressed property investments while they are still unlisted.

Factors to Consider

Median Home Price

The region’s median housing value should help you spot a suitable community for flipping houses. Modest median home values are a sign that there is a steady supply of real estate that can be bought below market worth. This is a principal feature of a fix and flip market.

When area data indicates a sudden drop in real estate market values, this can point to the accessibility of potential short sale homes. You will learn about possible opportunities when you join up with Ohio County short sale negotiation companies. Discover more about this sort of investment by reading our guide How to Buy a House as a Short Sale.

Property Appreciation Rate

The shifts in property prices in a location are crucial. You have to have a city where real estate values are steadily and consistently on an upward trend. Unpredictable value changes aren’t good, even if it is a substantial and quick surge. When you are acquiring and liquidating swiftly, an unstable environment can harm your investment.

Average Renovation Costs

Look thoroughly at the possible rehab costs so you’ll find out if you can reach your predictions. The way that the local government goes about approving your plans will affect your project as well. To draft an accurate budget, you will have to understand if your construction plans will be required to use an architect or engineer.

Population Growth

Population growth metrics provide a look at housing need in the city. If there are buyers for your rehabbed homes, the statistics will show a robust population increase.

Median Population Age

The median residents’ age can also show you if there are potential home purchasers in the area. The median age mustn’t be lower or more than that of the typical worker. Individuals in the area’s workforce are the most reliable home purchasers. The needs of retirees will probably not suit your investment project strategy.

Unemployment Rate

If you see a region that has a low unemployment rate, it is a strong evidence of profitable investment prospects. The unemployment rate in a prospective investment community should be lower than the national average. If it is also lower than the state average, that is much more desirable. In order to purchase your improved property, your potential buyers have to work, and their customers as well.

Income Rates

Median household and per capita income are a reliable sign of the stability of the home-purchasing environment in the community. Most buyers need to borrow money to purchase a home. Homebuyers’ capacity to be given financing depends on the level of their income. You can see based on the area’s median income whether many individuals in the location can afford to purchase your houses. Specifically, income increase is crucial if you want to scale your investment business. To keep pace with inflation and soaring construction and material costs, you should be able to periodically raise your purchase prices.

Number of New Jobs Created

The number of jobs generated per year is useful insight as you think about investing in a particular city. An expanding job market communicates that a larger number of prospective home buyers are amenable to investing in a home there. New jobs also draw workers arriving to the location from another district, which additionally strengthens the local market.

Hard Money Loan Rates

Short-term real estate investors often borrow hard money loans instead of conventional loans. This plan enables investors complete profitable ventures without holdups. Review Ohio County hard money loan companies and look at lenders’ fees.

People who aren’t knowledgeable regarding hard money lenders can find out what they should know with our article for those who are only starting — How Hard Money Loans Work.

In real estate wholesaling, you search for a home that investors may count as a lucrative investment opportunity and sign a sale and purchase agreement to purchase the property. A real estate investor then ”purchases” the purchase contract from you. The seller sells the home to the real estate investor instead of the real estate wholesaler. The wholesaler doesn’t sell the residential property itself — they simply sell the rights to buy it.

This method includes using a title firm that’s experienced in the wholesale contract assignment procedure and is able and willing to manage double close transactions. Discover Ohio County investor friendly title companies by reviewing our list.

Discover more about this strategy from our extensive guide — Wholesale Real Estate Investing 101 for Beginners. As you manage your wholesaling venture, put your name in HouseCashin’s directory of Ohio County top real estate wholesalers. This will allow any desirable customers to find you and initiate a contact.

Factors to Consider

Median Home Prices

Median home values in the city under consideration will quickly inform you whether your real estate investors’ required investment opportunities are situated there. Below average median values are a valid indicator that there are plenty of houses that could be purchased below market worth, which real estate investors need to have.

Rapid deterioration in real property market worth could lead to a number of houses with no equity that appeal to short sale property buyers. This investment method regularly delivers numerous different advantages. But, be cognizant of the legal risks. Discover more about wholesaling short sales with our complete explanation. When you are keen to begin wholesaling, hunt through Ohio County top short sale lawyers as well as Ohio County top-rated property foreclosure attorneys lists to locate the right advisor.

Property Appreciation Rate

Median home value fluctuations clearly illustrate the home value picture. Many real estate investors, like buy and hold and long-term rental investors, notably need to see that home market values in the market are growing consistently. Declining prices indicate an equivalently poor rental and housing market and will chase away real estate investors.

Population Growth

Population growth statistics are something that your future real estate investors will be knowledgeable in. When they know the community is expanding, they will decide that additional housing units are required. There are many individuals who lease and more than enough clients who buy houses. If a region is declining in population, it does not necessitate new housing and investors will not be active there.

Median Population Age

A preferable housing market for investors is strong in all aspects, particularly tenants, who evolve into home purchasers, who move up into larger real estate. In order for this to happen, there needs to be a steady employment market of potential renters and homeowners. An area with these attributes will display a median population age that is equivalent to the employed resident’s age.

Income Rates

The median household and per capita income display constant growth over time in communities that are ripe for real estate investment. Surges in lease and asking prices have to be supported by rising wages in the area. Real estate investors have to have this if they are to meet their expected profitability.

Unemployment Rate

The region’s unemployment rates are a vital point to consider for any future contracted house buyer. Tenants in high unemployment markets have a difficult time paying rent on schedule and some of them will miss payments entirely. Long-term investors won’t take a home in a community like that. High unemployment creates concerns that will keep interested investors from buying a house. This is a concern for short-term investors buying wholesalers’ contracts to rehab and flip a home.

Number of New Jobs Created

The number of jobs produced each year is a crucial component of the residential real estate structure. Fresh jobs generated result in an abundance of workers who require places to lease and purchase. Long-term investors, such as landlords, and short-term investors such as flippers, are drawn to cities with good job appearance rates.

Average Renovation Costs

Improvement spendings will be crucial to many investors, as they usually purchase low-cost rundown houses to rehab. When a short-term investor improves a house, they have to be prepared to unload it for a larger amount than the entire expense for the acquisition and the rehabilitation. The cheaper it is to renovate a house, the better the community is for your potential contract buyers.

Note investing professionals buy a loan from lenders when they can buy it for a lower price than the outstanding debt amount. This way, the purchaser becomes the lender to the original lender’s borrower.

Loans that are being paid on time are called performing notes. Performing loans earn you monthly passive income. Some note investors want non-performing loans because when the investor can’t satisfactorily restructure the mortgage, they can always purchase the collateral property at foreclosure for a below market amount.

Ultimately, you may accrue a number of mortgage note investments and not have the time to handle them by yourself. In this case, you can opt to employ one of home loan servicers in Ohio County WV that will essentially turn your portfolio into passive income.

If you determine to employ this plan, affix your project to our list of mortgage note buyers in Ohio County WV. This will help you become more noticeable to lenders offering desirable possibilities to note buyers like you.

Factors to consider

Foreclosure Rates

Investors searching for valuable mortgage loans to buy will want to find low foreclosure rates in the area. High rates could signal investment possibilities for non-performing mortgage note investors, however they should be careful. The locale should be active enough so that investors can complete foreclosure and resell properties if needed.

Foreclosure Laws

Experienced mortgage note investors are completely aware of their state’s laws concerning foreclosure. Are you dealing with a mortgage or a Deed of Trust? You may need to receive the court’s approval to foreclose on real estate. Note owners do not have to have the judge’s permission with a Deed of Trust.

Mortgage Interest Rates

The interest rate is indicated in the mortgage notes that are purchased by note investors. Your mortgage note investment return will be affected by the interest rate. Regardless of the type of mortgage note investor you are, the loan note’s interest rate will be critical for your estimates.

The mortgage rates set by traditional mortgage firms aren’t the same in every market. The higher risk assumed by private lenders is shown in higher mortgage loan interest rates for their loans compared to conventional mortgage loans.

Profitable mortgage note buyers routinely review the interest rates in their market offered by private and traditional mortgage lenders.

Demographics

A community’s demographics data help note investors to focus their work and properly distribute their assets. The location’s population increase, unemployment rate, job market growth, pay levels, and even its median age hold usable data for mortgage note investors.
Mortgage note investors who like performing mortgage notes select regions where a lot of younger residents have higher-income jobs.

Non-performing mortgage note investors are looking at similar indicators for other reasons. If these note buyers need to foreclose, they’ll need a stable real estate market to liquidate the repossessed property.

Property Values

As a mortgage note buyer, you must try to find borrowers having a comfortable amount of equity. When the investor has to foreclose on a mortgage loan without much equity, the sale might not even repay the balance owed. The combination of loan payments that lower the mortgage loan balance and yearly property market worth growth expands home equity.

Property Taxes

Usually homeowners pay property taxes through mortgage lenders in monthly portions when they make their loan payments. So the mortgage lender makes certain that the property taxes are paid when due. If loan payments are not current, the lender will have to either pay the property taxes themselves, or they become delinquent. Tax liens take priority over any other liens.

If an area has a record of increasing property tax rates, the combined house payments in that city are consistently expanding. Past due homeowners may not have the ability to keep paying growing loan payments and could stop paying altogether.

Real Estate Market Strength

Both performing and non-performing note buyers can do business in a growing real estate environment. Since foreclosure is a crucial component of note investment planning, growing property values are essential to discovering a desirable investment market.

Mortgage note investors additionally have an opportunity to create mortgage notes directly to homebuyers in stable real estate communities. For experienced investors, this is a beneficial segment of their investment strategy.

A trust investing in income-generating properties and that offers shares to people is a REIT — Real Estate Investment Trust. REITs were developed to empower average people to buy into real estate. Shares in REITs are economical for the majority of investors.

Investing in a REIT is one of the types of passive investing. REITs handle investors’ exposure with a varied selection of properties. Shareholders have the ability to liquidate their shares at any time. One thing you can’t do with REIT shares is to choose the investment properties. The land and buildings that the REIT chooses to purchase are the ones your capital is used to purchase.

Real estate investment funds are basically mutual funds concentrating on real estate businesses, such as REITs. The investment real estate properties are not possessed by the fund — they’re owned by the businesses the fund invests in. Investment funds are an affordable way to include real estate properties in your appropriation of assets without avoidable risks. Funds are not required to pay dividends unlike a REIT. Like other stocks, investment funds’ values increase and go down with their share market value.

You can select a real estate fund that specializes in a distinct kind of real estate business, like commercial, but you cannot choose the fund’s investment real estate properties or markets. As passive investors, fund participants are content to allow the directors of the fund handle all investment determinations.