Market Summary – Area By Area

We are very experienced in investing in the Youngstown-Boardman-Austintown-Struthers areas, and we had invested in different types of properties in each city, here are our personal experience and knowledge:

Youngstown

Youngstown is an old city, it used to be one of the most prominent industrial cities in the areas, beautiful mansions can still be seen around Youngstown; many were built during 1930s and 1940s.

For Youngstown – we focus on 3 strategies:

1. For better neighborhoods and growth opportunities – we look for properties to the West and South of Youngstown where it joins either Boardman, Struthers or Austintown areas. These areas tend to appreciate due to better neighborhoods and better houses.

2. We are looking at selective Youngstown North and East areas, properties in these areas are really attractive, you could even purchase a real estate under $10,000 in some cases. For medium or lower income areas, our strategy is to find Section 8 tenants which provide consistent income, we prefer Section 8 tenants as the rent is always paid on-time and they will typically maintain the properties well as they do not want to lose their Section 8 status.

3. The 3rd strategy is looking for duplexes and quad-plexes in the area. Duplexes can also produce attractive yields, we had invested in duplexes that produce as high as 47% return, the typical range is around 25% to 30% return, which nets around 20% after expenses. Many duplexes were built in the 1920s and 1930s and will require some updates, demand for duplexes is actually quite high in these area, particularly from single dwellers (many are over 60s whose family members have moved to other state) or students as Youngstown State University (YSU) is showing increase in enrolments.

For Youngstown – our strategy is focusing in opportunities with strong cash yield, most of our investments are tenanted real estate with immediate cash-flow.