695 Riverview Drive

Summary: 9-unit apartment building near Columbus, Ohio and Ohio State’s  campus that I bought with my brother, Thad in July 2013. As of 1 April 2015, it is managed by North Point Asset Management.

Recent

• Management: switched property manager from Renting Ohio to North Point Asset Management (NPAM). So far, NPAM is doing well. However, Renting Ohio seemed great in the first several months, so I will reserve my evaluation for now.
• I left this review on Renting Ohio’s business Facebook page. Look for my name under 2 star reviews. Or download here. I made the review extra negative to get his attention so that he would send documents I needed for my taxes. It is truthful and accurate. He ended up helping with the turnover as much as he was able.
• Switched from a dumpster in the front yard to much more sightly–and less expensive–bins for trash removal.

2014 Summary, and 2015 Projection

• 2014 Profit and Loss pdf.
• Rounded off to the nearest $500, we show a loss of $13,500.
• Almost $9,000 of expense is depreciation of the building. The accountant currently handles the depreciation schedule. For a rough calculation of cash flow: ($13,500) + $9,000 in depreciation = ($4,500). Bottom line, negative cash flow!
• There are 3 key items that we expect to be different in 2015, in our favor, that will improve the bottom line:
  • 1. from January 2014 to April 2014, we did not have a professional property manager and basically were not marketing at all. We had 3 empty units. At $500 per month per unit, for 4 months, that is $6,000 worth of vacancy. They were filled within 6 weeks of hiring a manager in April. If just 2 of the three were occupied, that’s a $4,000 improvement for 2015.
  • 2. In January of 2014, we had a pipe freeze and burst in a vacant unit. It wasn’t discovered until the manager (Thad) entered the unit to install a space heater. He was too late; the pipe had burst 30 minutes prior. The water to the building had to be shut off, and the unit had to be gutted carpet to drywall. This cost about $2,000 and was totally preventable.
  • 3. We spent $3,500 in October to an electrician to make the building compliant with its aluminum wiring. This was a one-time cost to improve a problem that existed when we purchased the property. It can be easily prevented in the future by hiring a competent electrician and ensuring that he knows about aluminum wiring and installs appropriate equipment. Aluminum compatible fixtures are only slightly more expensive.
• A reasonable expectation for 2015 cash flow is: ($4,500) + $4,000 (improved occupancy) + $2,000 (no frozen burst pipe) + $3,500 (no expensive electrician bill) = $5,000 positive cash flow for the year.
• There are some items I didn’t list that are negative, but they are roughly equal to the unlisted that are positive. The 3 items I listed are by far the largest.

Gluten-Free Bread

Shiloh’s Five Loaves is a gluten-free bread company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Devaunt LeClaire of Kineomen is the business brains behind the operation while his brother is the baker.

• As of early April, Tristaun was busy in the newly-leased building with the newly-installed equipment doing test runs baking bread while Devaunt was out coordinating sales. Busy, and progressing close to on schedule! New picture next time…

Kineomen

I became a Kineomen investor in November 2014. Shiloh’s Five Loaves is Kineomen’s primary investment project currently. Kineomen recently proposed a real estate business in Ohio and I am considering a small project this fall to test the viability and get the ball rolling.

Coconut Wine (Vino de Coco)

• Click on the picture for Vino de Coco’s website.
• No real update. Seeking repayment of loan. Plan to make a full attempt at repayment this summer.