6/10/26 -  Landlords and housing providers, please read this carefully, and you will see that positive change is on the horizon.

New guidance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development limits the types of Fair Housing Act complaints the agency will accept regarding assistance or service animals.  Those who have followed me for some time have seen my previous articles over the years about this, based on my experiences with legislation and litigation in Ohio. The litigation was the most telling because the analysis that the Court of Appeals followed is very similar to what is laid out below and what the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is doing. They are going back to a strict reading of the actual law. Let me give you a quick review.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects people with disabilities. Disabilities are defined as something that interferes with an essential daily activity. Service or assistance animals must be able to address that disability. The two biggest examples I can quickly recall are guide dogs and dogs trained to prevent injury to a person experiencing a sudden seizure or a drop in blood sugar.

In recent years, this has become a wide-open, exploited area with multiple online cottage industries springing up to provide fake certifications for emotional support animals. This resulted in a stretch way beyond the bounds of what the ADA encompassed, and emotional issues are not frequently co ... Read More…

 Not all tenants are created equal — and neither are rental strategies. After years of experience as a housing provider across multiple property types, one truth stands out above the rest: the screening process that works brilliantly for a long-term tenant can completely miss the mark for a mid-term renter, and the criteria suited for a co-living arrangement look nothing like what makes sense for a short-term guest.

Understanding who occupies each rental model — and how to evaluate them — is one of the most overlooked skills in real estate investing. Getting it right means lower vacancy, fewer headaches, and stronger cash flow. Getting it wrong means expensive mistakes that could have been avoided.

Long-Term Rentals: The Traditional Benchmark

The long-term tenant — typically signing a 12-month lease or longer — is the most familiar profile for most housing providers. These residents are putting down roots, however temporarily, and the screening process reflects that level of commitment.

The standard framework applies here: income verification (typically 2.5 to 3 times the monthly rent), credit history review, rental history and landlord references, and background checks. The goal is to evaluate financial stability and track record as a responsible renter.

Key red flags for long-term tenants include:

• Frequent moves (more than once every 1-2 years without a clea ... Read More…

While coastal investors gamble on volatile appreciation cycles, those of us who have spent decades building portfolios here in the Miami Valley know the real secret to sustainable wealth: boring, predictable cash flow. Dayton consistently ranks as one of the top markets nationwide for rent-to-value ratios, and for good reason. The fundamentals of our local economy create a perfect storm for the buy-and-hold investor.

We aren't a boom-or-bust tech town. Dayton is anchored by recession-resistant economic pillars. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base remains the largest single-site employer in Ohio, bringing a constant influx of military personnel, defense contractors, and federal employees. Add in massive healthcare networks like Kettering Health and Premier Health, plus our strategic position at the crossroads of I-70 and I-75 driving logistics growth, and you have a tenant base that is highly employed and constantly renewing.

For GDREIA members looking to scale or optimize a buy-and-hold portfolio, the opportunity is not just in buying cheap doors—it is in strategic asset positioning.

Here are two concrete takeaways to maximize your Dayton portfolio in today's economic climate:

1. Pivot to the "Mid-Term" Healthcare and Defense Niche

Do not just settle for standard 12-month leases. Dayton’s massive transient workforce of travel nurses and short-term defense contractors desperately needs furnished housing for 30 to 90-day stints. Converting a standard long-term rent ... Read More…

REAL ESTATE STRATEGY  |  BEGINNER INVESTOR SERIES

What if your first investment property didn't just build equity — it actually paid most of your mortgage? What if owning real estate immediately improved your monthly cash flow instead of draining it? That's not a fantasy scenario. That's house hacking, and it's one of the most powerful wealth-building strategies available to everyday people right here in the Greater Dayton market.

If you've been sitting on the sidelines of real estate investing because you're worried about cash flow, down payments, or taking on too much risk too fast — this article is written for you. Let's break down exactly what house hacking is, why it works, and how you can use it as your launching pad into real estate investing.

Begin by teaching them about the lifestyle choice they’ll get to make each day of their lives: the choice of being rich, poor, or middle class. Once they make that decision, show them how they can use real estate as a vehicle for reaching their chosen destiny.

Let’s face it… for almost everyone starting out, investing in real estate is just another job. Part time, yes, but still a job that takes additional time away from family and friends. Rare is the first-time investor who has the available funds to jump into rehabbing or buying rental units without another job to support them. Most of us get started as real estate entrepreneurs by doing real estate “on the side” in the evenings and on weekends while keeping our day jobs to meet our families’ financial needs.

My wife and I got into the real estate business almost accidentally. Out of necessity, we would buy junker houses to live in because that was all we could afford. Then we would fix them up while we lived in them. As the family grew, we would buy another house with more bedrooms and baths and fix that one up. All this was happening while our children were young.

I got started as a real estate entrepreneur when a friend of mine who rehabbed houses talked me into buying a house at auction to renovate. My wife and I bought that first investment property and went about renovating it ourselves. Very quickly I was declared by the family to be an “absentee father.” My wife ... Read More…

Source: RealWealth — "Ohio Housing Market Predictions and Trends for 2026"

If you've been on the fence about your next investment move, this might be the nudge you need. A recent analysis from RealWealth takes a deep dive into Ohio's housing market outlook for 2026 and 2027 — and the news is good for investors right here in the Greater Dayton area.

The Big Picture: Ohio Is Outperforming

While coastal markets wrestle with oversupply and price corrections, Ohio is quietly becoming one of the most reliable cash-flow markets in the country. Home prices are up 3.5% year-over-year statewide, with Zillow putting the typical Ohio home value at $218,865 — still among the most affordable in the country. realwealth

What's changed? People are actually moving in. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Ohio had a net domestic migration of 11,926 people in 2025 — a dramatic turnaround from a loss of more than 32,000 in 2021 — with the Ohio Department of Development reporting the highest number of people moving into the state in 25 years. realwealth

On the economic side, JobsOhio completed 311 projects in 2025 with $12.1 billion in capital investment, and Ohio earned its highest possible credit ratings from all three major rating agencies for the first time in state history. realwealth

Why Dayton Deserves Your Attention

Let's talk about our backyard. Dayton may not get the same headlines as Columbus or Cincinnati, but the fundamentals here are rock soli ... Read More…

 Let me be straight with you. I've been investing in real estate for over a decade and running an AI automation practice, and the shift happening right now is unlike anything I've seen. Not the "AI will replace everyone" hype. The real shift — the quiet one — where serious investors are using AI to compress weeks of research into hours, write better offers, screen tenants, analyze deals, and market properties while they sleep.

The investors who figure this out in 2026 are going to look back on this moment the same way early adopters of online MLS listings did in the late '90s. The ones who waited? They're still trying to catch up.

What "Agentic AI" Actually Means for Investors

You've heard about ChatGPT. You've maybe used it to draft an email. That's fine — but that's the kiddie pool. The hot category right now is agentic AI: systems that don't just respond to a prompt, they pursue a goal across multiple steps without you babysitting every move.

Think: you give it a target neighborhood, a buy-box, and a cash-on-cash return threshold. It researches listings, pulls rental comps, runs the numbers, flags the top three, and drafts your outreach to the listing agent. That's not science ficti ... Read More…

CASH FOR KEYS: THE LANDLORD’S SHORTCUT OR A LEGAL MINEFIELD?

You’ve been there. It’s 9:00 PM on a Friday, and instead of relaxing, you’re staring at a ledger of unpaid rent and a stack of "noise complaint" emails from neighbors. You’re a landlord in the world of real estate investing Dayton Ohio, and right now, the "passive" part of passive income feels like a total myth.

Meet John. John is a local investor who recently found himself in this exact nightmare. His tenant hadn’t paid in two months, the property was starting to look like a junk yard, and the legal system was moving at the speed of a snail on a treadmill. John decided to take the "shortcut": Cash for Keys.

He offered the tenant $1,000 to move out by Sunday night, leaving the place "broom clean." To John’s relief, the tenant took the deal, handed over the keys, and vanished. John saved thousands in legal fees and months of lost rent. He felt like a genius.
But then, the adrenaline kicked in. John wanted to make sure nobody else in the Dayton and Springfield area ever dealt with this person again. He opened Facebook, navigated to a local landlord group, and started typing a "Warning: Do Not Rent to This Person" post.

STOP RIGHT THERE, JOHN.

Before you hit "Post," you need to understand that while Cash for Keys might be your shortcut to freedom, that social media "warning" could be your shortcut to a massive lawsuit. Let's break down why you should choose your moves care ... Read More…

Just this morning, I was having yet another conversation with a fellow educator about the frustration we have with students who have the brains, education, and resources to make deals—but who, month after month, do everything BUT make deals. 

We discussed people who spend big bucks on courses, set up their LLCs, draft land trusts, buy marketing/accounting/management software, attend REIA meetings religiously, have a color-coded filing system, get their real estate license, start a buyer’s list, concoct every conceivable question about every conceivable scenario in a deal… 

…in fact, do everything that it takes to be a successful real estate entrepreneur except make offers. 

Many of these people are successful in their other endeavors; many have good jobs, nice houses, great kids, you name it. But they can never seem to get to the point of actually buying a property, no matter what we tell them or how much time passes. 

What many of you seem to be waiting for is that NEXT bootcamp or the NEXT investor meeting or the NEXT meeting with their coach. 

And what you’re hoping for is that you’ll read something, hear something, or learn something that makes all the fear go away, makes you completely sure of yourself, and makes you 100% confident that the next step you take is the right one. 

I’m here to tell you, from the perspective of almost 2 decades’ experience, that the day you’re waitin ... Read More…

Does this sound like you? 

• You love going to association meetings and webinars, and hanging out in online fora reading about, asking questions about, and discussing real estate.
• You own several home study courses.
• You’ve been to multiple long-form workshops, seminars, and boot camps.
• You haven’t done a deal. 

If it does, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. 

The good news is, you’re not alone: 80% of all real estate newbies are in exactly this position. The bad news is, 80% of real estate newbies will never get out of this position. 

Now, I’ve never seen an actual study that says that only 20% of people who learn about real estate will ever do anything with that knowledge, but I CAN tell you that it’s a number that’s agreed upon by people who are in a position to observe (and fret about) the phenomenon. 

Group leaders and gurus who’ve been around for a while will tell you the same thing—about 1 out of 5 people who start their real estate education will never take it out into the real world and use it to make money. 

So what do we do with this sobering statistic? 

The first thing we should do is ask, “Why”? What is it that the 20% has or is or does that the other 80% doesn’t? 

Again, there aren’t studies that I know of that explain this, but I have a theory, and it goes like this: 

There are several psychological stages that a new i ... Read More…