This was my first commercial investment. My friend and realtor, Tom Kazanas, introduced me to a local Cleveland investor and my now-partner, Justin Kestler. To make a long story short, when we acquired this apartment, 3 out of the 5 units were rented for just $625 per month. We needed to do some minor rehab, and we ended up putting about $15k into it. We didn’t go overboard because we assumed the market rent was around $900 in 2021 and knew it would take a few years to pay off.

Today, we’re earning $5,100 in rent. After we got the NOI up, we refinanced the property in ’21 and received over $90k in cash back which was used to invest in other properties! This was a steal of a deal, thanks to Tom.