I'm proud to report that I've filled my renovated apartment with a new tenant after 2.5 months of looking. Procrastination, laziness, and distraction are mostly to blame as I've had a good amount of people come through for tours and even more inquire about it.
When I first listed the apartment on 10/20/13, I thought that it was a steal for someone looking to live in Over the Rhine. Compared to many other apartments on the market, mine was deeply discounted at $700/mo, was much bigger than typical 2 bedroom units at 825 SF, and even included heat and water in the price. I realized that much of my competition had laundry on-site, a closer location to the action, off-street parking, a dishwasher, didn't have radiator heating or require A/C window units, and were renovated to a much higher standard. I thought many of these deficiencies would be overlooked due to the bargain price, and in the end it was after I dropped my price to $650/mo. But the length of time that it took me to find that person willing to take a bargain underscored that I need to up my game by knocking out some of these weak spots that are under my control.
I've started the process of chipping away at maybe the biggest concern with my apartments, which is the safety of the area. You might be thinking that it's out of my control, and it a degree it is, but really I can do a lot to start making things happen by bringing attention to the problem by those who are supposed to take care of these things. I've started using the City of Cincinnati's mobile app for reporting service requests for things like graffiti (over and over again and then sending emails for follow up until they actually come out and paint over it; worked once!), overflowing corner trash cans (usually from me putting all the street litter that collects within a block of my building into them), broken streetlights, building code violations, and anything else that needs addressed.
I've also begun the push for police cameras at the intersection near my building. I spoke up at a Safety Sector meeting and sent a follow up email, so far but I'm going to get it to happen. After getting the idea from another owner that owns two big buildings on the corner of E. Clifton and Lang (who was fishing for my rent comps so he can get financing to redo them!), I used landing my new tenant and his rent info as a conversation starter to stay in touch and he suggested that I get the pricing and specifications for the police cameras so that "we might pay for it or chip in" to make it happen! Hopefully the police will help us get it done and you can bet your ass that I'll be on them until it is. I've got to hope that this will push the drug dealing away from my area (since the school opening one block away didn't seem to do it [2 block drug free zone anyone?]) If I have trouble, I'll get city council members involved and then look into suing that the police aren't enforcing the 2 block drug free zone if I have to. I'm going to make this happen and not let the status quo stand in this neighborhood any longer.
Other than safety, I plan on making my next renovated unit nicer than the last one. I'll need to gut the kitchen and bathroom more so than the last one which will give me a little freedom to upgrade with the free cabinets and appliances that I've already got. I'll try to separate the water metering so that I can get reimbursed for the extra water that adding a dishwasher will add in expenses. Hopefully over the summer I'll also be able to build parking pads out back, and build a retaining wall around a raised patio. Throwing excess dirt in to level the patio should allow me to make an entryway to the basement (which I might have to contract someone to add an exterior door to) so that I can put laundry down there for me and my tenants to access.
This whole process of taking tenants through my building has given me a new prospective of what I need to do to compete against my competition so that it won't be as hard to attract the type of tenants that I want. I'm also going to look into refinancing the loan with my dad into a bank loan so that I can pull some money out and possibly buy another property. Stay tuned....
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