Episode #24
EP 024 | Winton Woods Rents $1,900, Oak Hills Rents $1,643: What School Districts Tell You About a Portfolio
Ian Cruz and Slocomb Reed just closed on a 100+ unit portfolio of single-family homes and duplexes in Greater Cincinnati; under LOI in January 2026, managed under a master lease since May, closed in early August. No guest this week: just the two of us on the three biggest things this deal taught us after walking every property. Slocomb starts with the three perils of neglect: routine maintenance that becomes five-figure capex when deferred. Tree trimming that becomes roof and gutter replacement. Drainage that becomes foundation reinforcement. Slow drains that become failed subfloors and joists. We inherited all three and negotiated the discount to fix them. We would have paid more and asked for less had the previous operator spent hundreds a year instead of leaving us tens of thousands in work. We also cover how we underwrote the HVAC refrigerant transition: R22, the R410A phase-out, and what R32 and R454B mean for replacement cost at this scale. Then Ian walks through rent by property type, bedroom count, and school district. The headline number: $1,473 average across the single-family homes; is close to useless on its own. What matters is the divergence: districts where appreciation outpaces rent growth, and districts where rent growth outpaces appreciation. That split decides which houses get renovated and sold to first-time home buyers and which stay rentals. We name districts on both sides of the line, including several that have not come up in 20 episodes. What you will learn: Which school districts are appreciation plays and which are cash flow plays Why Cincinnati Public Schools cannot be analyzed as one district How Madisonville and Forest Park changed under owners still operating with a 2005 mindset How we structured the deal to begin managing three months before closing Follow @thecincyreishow and leave a five-star review. Questions or disagreements: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the Cincinnati's Best Ever REI Mastermind group. Subscribe. Share. Invest smarter. Timestamps00:00 Cold open: $2,000 on a French drain can save $20,000 in foundation work00:20 Closing a 100+ unit Cincinnati portfolio01:25 Insight #1: The three perils of neglect01:53 Tree trimming, roofs and gutters02:49 Drainage and leaky foundations04:05 Slow drains and cast-iron stacks06:54 What the previous owner got right07:48 Refrigerant phase-out: R22, R410A, R32 and R454B09:51 Insight #2: 15 years of neighborhood appreciation11:55 Insight #3: School districts split the portfolio in two14:19 Starter homes vs. rentals: who we sell to15:35 Queen City Pulse: Fourth & Rhine, a UC project cut in half17:02 Why the portfolio average misleads19:40 Reading the dot plot: rents by district22:05 Why Cincinnati Public is too big for one market22:49 Appreciation: Northwest, Oak Hills, Princeton, Winton Woods23:10 Cash flow: Elmwood Place, North College Hill, Mount Healthy, Finneytown24:49 Closing: a victory lap and the work ahead
