523 College Ave

Wooster, OH 44691

$80,000D+

24 bd · 16.0 ba · — sqft · Built 1920 · MultiFamily · Active · 9 DOM

Cashflow @ list (25.0% down · 7.5%)

• Estimated rent: $9,836/mo
• Mortgage (P&I): −$420
• Tax + insurance: −$133
• HOA: −$0
• Vac / Maint / Mgmt: −$2,066
• Net cashflow: $7,218/mo
• Annual: $86,611/yr
• Cap rate: 114.56%
• Cash-on-cash: 386.66%
• DSCR: 18.20
• 1% rule: 12.29%
• Cash to close: $22,400

Investor read

• This is a 4 × 6-bed/4.0-bath units multifamily listed at $80k.
• At list price, monthly cash flow is $7k ($87k/yr) — positive. Per door: $2k/mo.
• The deal already cash-flows at list — no discount required.
• Meets the 1% rule at list price ($10k rent vs $80k).
• Only 9 days on market — expect competitive offers; lowballing is unlikely to land.
• Local home prices are declining (-3.0%/yr); year-one equity from $553 of loan paydown is wiped out by about $2k of value loss. Plan a longer hold.
• Location reads 77/100 on livability (#195 in OH, #3,001 nationally) — a middle-class / working-renter tenant base. Strengths: cost of living A+, housing A+, health & safety A+; Watch: employment D+, amenities D-, commute F.
• Wooster City (town): math 47% / reading 57% proficiency, ranked #422 of 656 in OH (top 64%) — acceptable for families but not a draw, mixed tenant base, ~2y average lease.
• Watch-outs: built in 1920 — expect roof / HVAC / electrical / plumbing capex.
• Market conditions: Rents rising fast (+8.4%/yr); 154 active listings in the ZIP; 284 units permitted in Wayne County in 2024 (42 in 5+ unit buildings).
• Wayne County population projected to shrink 6% by 2050 — rents likely to lag national; underwrite the cash flow, not the appreciation.
• At projected returns (-3.0% appreciation + 8.0% rent growth), your $22k cash investment doubles in ~1 year — after that, you're playing with house money.
• Cap rate 114.6% vs local median 3.2% in Wooster — top-decile yield for the area; either an underpriced asset or a hidden risk that comps aren't pricing in. Stress-test before assuming the spread holds.
• At $9,836/mo this rent would consume 169% of the median local household income ($70k/yr) (locally 844% of renters already pay >50% of income on rent) — very limited rent-growth headroom before tenants either downsize or default.

Questions for listing agent

• Can we see the unit-by-unit rent roll, current vacancy, and any below-market leases? What's the average tenancy length?
• What capital expenditures (roof, boiler, parking lot, exteriors) have been made in the last 5 years, and what's planned in the next 2?
• Built in 1920 — when were the roof, HVAC, electrical panel, plumbing, and water heater last replaced?
• Is there a deadline driving the sale (1031 exchange, divorce, estate, relocation)? That informs how much negotiation room exists.
• Schools are B-rated — typically a magnet for longer-tenancy family renters. What's the average tenant stay here, and is there a school-zone premium baked into asking?
• The area grade is low — what's the realistic commute time and amenity access for the typical tenant pool here? Any planned neighborhood developments (good or bad) we should know about?
• What's the average days-on-market for RENTAL listings here right now (not sales)? A rising rental-DOM trend means longer vacancies and softer asking-rent achievability than the comps imply.
• What's the recent tenant-quality profile in this submarket — average credit score on applications, eviction rate, late-payment / NSF rate, and stable-employment percentage? A property-management company in the area should have these aggregated.