Real Estate Pros · November 7, 2025 · 21 min listen

Buying, Rehabbing, and Renting in Cleveland with Rickey Jones

Show summary

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Kristen interviews Rickey Jones, a seasoned real estate investor from Cleveland, Ohio. Rickey shares his journey from being a college athlete to becoming a successful investor specializing in buying, rehabbing, and renting properties in hud designated areas. He discusses the challenges of real estate investing, the importance of providing quality housing, and his mission to empower communities through property ownership. The conversation also touches on market insights, future goals, and valuable lessons learned throughout Rickey’s career.

Key takeaways

Rickey buys the worst house on a street in HUD designated areas, often for $4,000 to $20,000, rehabs it, and raises its value to sometimes over $100,000.
Section 8 rent is largely guaranteed and deposited monthly, but government shutdowns can delay payments, which is now making him rethink enrolling a new four-unit building in a government program.
Finish-out formula for rentals: vinyl flooring instead of carpet, white walls and ceilings for light, black fixtures, recessed lighting, kitchen backsplash, and ceramic tile showers; his newest building, Sandy Apartments, includes stainless steel appliances.
Never hire the cheapest contractor; get at least three quotes and visit a contractor's current job site in person to evaluate their work before hiring.
Rent on some of his properties has risen from about $400 to about $1,100 as the market has shifted, and he describes the last year as moving from a seller's market to a buyer's market with dropping interest rates.
Cleveland's low entry price point (properties under $50,000 that still need only light rehab, i.e., "lipstick work") makes it attractive compared to other markets where $50,000 only buys a shell.
Expanding into a new market (Akron, 30 minutes from Cleveland) led to problems with a property near the Akron Zoo that kept getting broken into and occupied by squatters, teaching him to do more research before expanding into unfamiliar markets.
He has bought over 50 units in recent years and is now targeting a larger 30-40 unit apartment building while growing his contractor and leasing agent team and launching a webinar called the Passive Property Blueprint.

In this episode

About the guest

Rickey Jones is a real estate investor based in Cleveland, Ohio with over 10 years of experience buying, rehabbing, and renting properties in HUD designated areas. He is a former college athlete (track and football) who holds an undergraduate degree in accounting and worked as an auditor for four and a half years before transitioning into real estate. He has bought over 50 units in recent years, including a five-unit building called Sandy Apartments named after his mother, and he works with women's shelters and young adult housing programs in addition to preparing to launch a webinar called the Passive Property Blueprint.

Listen to the audio

“I’ve able to buy properties for $4,000 or $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, and have success at doing that. So I bring the value up. So I rehab them, bring the value up and some of the properties are worth over $100,000 easily.”
Rickey Jones

“Don't try to do everything, hire out and don't go with lowest price.”
Rickey Jones

“Passing down property, not poverty.”
Rickey Jones

HUD housing investingSection 8 rentalsCleveland, Ohio real estatebuy and hold rental strategyrehab and renovationproperty managementcontractor vettingcommunity impact housingAkron, Ohio market

Questions answered in this episode

How does Rickey Jones find deals in HUD designated areas?

He looks for the worst house on the street, sometimes buying for as little as $4,000 to $20,000, then rehabs it to bring the value up, with some properties ending up worth over $100,000. He walks the property with his contractor to assess roof, electrical, windows, and wall damage before pricing the repair cost.

What are the risks of relying on Section 8 and government-funded housing programs?

Section 8 generally guarantees most or all of the rent gets paid and deposited monthly, which is a major benefit. However, Rickey mentions that a government shutdown caused one of his government-funded programs to notify him that November rent would be late, which has made him reconsider plans for a four-unit building he was going to enroll in a program.

What finishes does Rickey use to make rental units look modern on a budget?

He uses vinyl flooring in living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms instead of carpet because it lasts longer, white paint on walls and ceilings to bring in more light, black fixtures in bathrooms and elsewhere for a modern contrast, recessed lighting in living rooms, hallways, and kitchens, kitchen backsplash, and ceramic tile in showers. In his Sandy Apartments building he installed stainless steel appliances.

How much does it cost to get into real estate investing in Cleveland?

Rickey says the price of entry in Cleveland is lower than most other markets, with properties available for under $50,000, compared to only getting a shell for that price elsewhere. In Cleveland you can buy a property in that range, do some light rehab work, and get it rented or sold.

What mistake should new investors avoid when hiring contractors?

Rickey says not to hire the cheapest contractor just because of price. He learned that if a job should reasonably cost around $1,000 and someone quotes $300, that contractor should be avoided because the work often has to be redone, costing more money in the end. He now gets at least three quotes before deciding and visits contractors' active job sites to see their work in person rather than relying only on photos.

What happened when Rickey Jones expanded to a new market outside Cleveland?

He expanded to Akron, Ohio, about 30 minutes from Cleveland. His first Akron property worked out well (bought for $6,000, put about $25,000 into it, rented for about $1,200/month), but a second property near the Akron Zoo and LeBron James's I Promise housing kept breaking and had squatters move in. He said it was a lesson to do more research before expanding into new markets.

Resources and links

Full transcript

Rickey Jones (00:00)

Yes, so I’d normally focus in guest hud areas. So what I like to do is like to sometimes buy the worst house on the street to bring the value up. over the years, I’ve able to buy properties for $4,000 or $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, and have success at doing that.

So I bring the value up. So I rehab them, bring the value up and some of the properties are worth over $100,000 easily.

Kristen Knapp (01:59)

Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Rickey Jones out of Cleveland, Ohio. He has over 10 years of experience in real estate investing. He specializes in buying, rehabbing and renting properties in hud designated areas. So I’m excited to get into this. Thank you so much for being here, Rickey So, you you’ve been in the game for 10 years. Talk about the beginning, how you got into this.

Rickey Jones (02:16)

Thank you for having me.

Okay, well I’m a former college athlete. ran track and play football in college. So when I graduated with my undergrad in accounting.

Kristen Knapp (02:29)

Thanks.

Rickey Jones (02:32)

I as an order for four and half years. So I used to watch a TV show called flip this house and I liked it and I wanted to get into it. So I have my one of my best friends Dante Sanders his brother played for the Cleveland Browns, Darnell Sanders and he was buying properties and he was rehabbing them, renting them out and selling some to us. I’m like this what I want to do. So I bought my first property from my best friend Dante Sanders and ever since then I just been buying properties and holding them and rehabbing them and

selling them, sell some and I’ll keep some.

Kristen Knapp (03:03)

And what was kind of the biggest shock seeing maybe the glamorized version on TV and then doing it yourself?

Rickey Jones (03:09)

It’s a lot of ⁓ As far as just once you start rehabbing a property, what you think you gotta fix, it’s more behind it.

Kristen Knapp (03:11)

Yeah.

Rickey Jones (03:18)

So the budget that I was setting, I always go over budget because I didn’t see, I didn’t know what was gonna be behind the wall. So once you start opening up walls, there’s more problems.

Kristen Knapp (03:18)

Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely. you feel like you learned, like how did you learn how to do everything? Did you learn on the job or did you kind of have mentorship?

Rickey Jones (03:37)

Actually learned on the job too. So once I start first by my first properties I was still working as an auditor and my father he will ⁓ I’ll hire the contractors and he’d be there watching them and then he will learn The trade and then the next property he would actually do it So my first part like my first five years buying properties my dad start actually doing the work while I was at work

Kristen Knapp (04:00)

Awesome. I mean, that’s good, yeah, to have your dad involved in it with you. And so how did you start to specialize in hud designated areas?

Rickey Jones (04:04)

⁓ yeah.

Well…

My best friend, Don Tess, his brother Darnell was buying in those areas, so I just started buying those too. So that’s where I kinda, he wasn’t my mentor, but he was my mentor. I was watching him and I started buying them too.

Kristen Knapp (05:11)

And then working with these government funded programs, what are some of the good parts about it? What are some of the challenges?

Rickey Jones (05:18)

Well the good part is, ⁓ as far as with section 8, for most of my tenants they have paid most of the rent or majority of the rent. So that kind of like guaranteed my rent. But now with everything going on with the president, I just got an email from one of my government funded programs saying that since the government shut down, this November rent would be late.

Kristen Knapp (05:41)

Right.

Rickey Jones (05:41)

before all this, the rent was always guaranteed and I knew I’ll get a check, know, guaranteed deposit into my account every month. But now with the government shutdown, now I kind of shook some things up.

Kristen Knapp (05:53)

Yeah, is that kind of a reoccurring hurdle to get past? You’re kind of watching what’s going on with the government?

Rickey Jones (06:01)

Yes, that’s making me a little nervous and little scared ⁓ because some of the properties, and I got another four-unit building I’m working on now that I was going to send over to this other government-funded program. But now with this government shutdown, now I’ve got to change plans.

Kristen Knapp (06:16)

Absolutely. ⁓ And just talk more about kind of the housing that you provide and utilizing Section 8.

Rickey Jones (06:25)

Okay, so I buy single families and two family properties and I also have buildings too. I just did a five-minute building that I named after my mother. Sandy Apartments in Cleveland, Ohio on the east side. So what I normally do with my units, in the living room, dining room, I do vinyl, flooring, and bedrooms I don’t really do carpet. And in the building that I just did called Sandy Apartments after my mother, I put all stainless steel appliances in them.

Kristen Knapp (06:52)

That’s really cool. As you rehab some of these properties, what are some of the things that you focus on?

Rickey Jones (07:01)

⁓ I try to provide a good product ⁓ Something that’s Wouldn’t be in that area. So I try to make god doing pretty nice and put everything in our news. I won’t have any problems

Kristen Knapp (07:13)

Yeah, what are some of the ways that you make things look nice?

Rickey Jones (07:16)

I do kitchen backsplash. do ceramic tile in the shower ⁓ Vinyl floor like I said before ⁓ I’ve been doing like black fixtures in the bathrooms and light fixtures and everywhere else I’ve been doing recess lighting in the living room and in the hallways in the kitchens too So trying to make them more modern

Kristen Knapp (07:35)

Awesome.

Yeah, do you find that there’s like simple ways to make things look refreshed that don’t really take, you know, demolition?

Rickey Jones (07:45)

yeah,

so lately what I’ve been doing now is I know white is the the paint code that a lot of people have been using so White brings more light in the house. So I’ve been using all white I do white walls white ceilings now and then now what I’ll do is I do black fixtures So it kind of bring it more modern style and then the vinyl flooring Is make it last longer. I keep changing on carpet

Kristen Knapp (08:06)

Yeah, that’s awesome, that’s awesome. And you know, the types of properties you invest in, I know one of your strengths is you’re able to identify properties that a lot of people overlook. Can you talk more about that?

Rickey Jones (08:18)

So I bring the value up. So I rehab them, bring the value up and some of the properties are worth over $100,000 easily.

Kristen Knapp (08:45)

amazing. How do you identify, know, you’re looking at the worst house on the street, how do you identify if it’s worth your time or not worth your time?

Rickey Jones (08:53)

Well, I like to I got to walk through first so I bring my contractor and I’ll walk through and kind of see what if I got to replace the roof I do electrical Windows and stuff like that. So if there’s holes in the wall So I like to my contractor kind of give me a give me a price of what’s gonna The repair cost gonna be

Kristen Knapp (09:11)

Yeah, and I imagine, you you’ve worked in this area for a long time. How do you kind of build that team of contractors and people that you work with?

Rickey Jones (00:00)

Travelling area, I ask my other investor friends for good contracts for referrals. And then what I like to do is when I’m driving around at my current properties or I’m looking at properties and I see anybody, any contractor is working, I jump on my truck and ask for a business card.

Kristen Knapp (00:14)

Awesome. Yeah, I imagine it’s always hard ⁓ hiring people. I feel like that’s the hardest part about it.

Rickey Jones (00:21)

Oh yeah, when I first got in the business I I would hire the cheapest contractor. But now I learned I’m not going to. If I know it’s a job that’s gonna be, it’s standards a thousand and you come in and say 300, I’m not gonna use you. Yeah. Cause I know I have to probably have to pay for my to redo it again. And now I’ve been spent more money.

Kristen Knapp (00:42)

Yeah, and on kind of the contractor theme, what are some, besides the quote, what are some other things that you look for before bringing someone into your business?

Rickey Jones (00:51)

I like to try to go look at their work. hopefully if they’re working on a job, I like to go to their job site and try to see how they lead their jobs and look at the work in person. Because sometimes, pictures don’t show everything.

Kristen Knapp (01:03)

Yeah, absolutely. To kind of shift gears a little bit, I know that you have, you know, you’re very passionate about working with teens and women and you have this really great mission. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

Rickey Jones (01:16)

Yeah, so probably a little bit over a year now, I’ve been working with the women’s shelter with individuals that provide housing for them. So they go to the shelter for domestic violence, and then I will provide the housing so they can move out the shelter. And then also, too, I just recently started working with another shelter with kids from 18 to 24 years old to provide them housing, too.

Kristen Knapp (01:41)

Wow. And you tell us kind of what that’s like to work with these people.

Rickey Jones (01:45)

Always, it’s a blessing. I like it. I love helping. know, so my mom always raised me to, you know, always help and give back. So I love providing them nice house and I love to, you know, help them get out the shelter and get you back used to, you know, regular life.

Kristen Knapp (02:02)

I feel like you’re making such a difference in a lot of people’s lives and the lasting impact. mean, your sweatshirt says it all, passing down property, not poverty.

Rickey Jones (02:13)

yes.

Yeah, I just I just just had my first daughter so she’s one years old so he keeps me busy so I want definitely I got my trust together that you know past her now it’s a property for our sisters.

Kristen Knapp (02:25)

Yeah, amazing. Well, yeah, and I hope you’re helping so many people, you know, start their lives and build equity and all of that. So that’s amazing. ⁓ Talk more about kind of where you go from here. What are your goals to expand the business?

Rickey Jones (02:43)

My goals is I want to add more units to my portfolio. I’m looking for a bigger apartment building, maybe a 30 to 40 unit building. I’m always looking to grow my team, more contractors, more leasing agents. And then I’m also looking to, I’m about to start a webinar to help people learn how to build paths of income through real estate.

Kristen Knapp (03:04)

awesome. Tell us more about the webinar.

Rickey Jones (03:05)

So yeah, I’ve been changing my path right now and where I’m building, ⁓ it’s gonna be called the Passive Property ⁓ Blueprint. So I’m gonna teach people how to buy properties and rent them out and ⁓ have that passive income so it’ll allow you to have more time to spend if it’s with your family or travel or whatever you wanna do.

Kristen Knapp (03:29)

and kind of how do you build that up?

Rickey Jones (03:31)

Right now I’m working with a social media person. Right now I’m changing my social media and we’re actually putting together the whole program to how we’re going to build it out and give it to people.

Kristen Knapp (03:42)

Yeah, really interesting. And I feel like you have such a unique subset and one that really, really helps people and gives back. What’s your perception of the market in general? Like how do the fluctuations affect you?

Rickey Jones (03:57)

Well right now the interest rates just dropped so hopefully more people will start buying more so more investors will buy and so then right now rent so properties that I used to rent out for $400 right now I’m renting them out for $1,100 so right now it’s good for the rent market but now the prices that interest rates drop it should be more people buying now.

Kristen Knapp (04:24)

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and do you, how has it been the last year? I mean, do you think it’s been a buyer’s market or what have you been seeing?

Rickey Jones (05:14)

The last year, let me see. ⁓ I think it’s been more, look, it was a seller’s market, now it’s turning into a buyer’s market right now.

Kristen Knapp (05:24)

Okay, yeah, absolutely. Cool, well, tell us more kind of about the Cleveland area and what makes it special and kind of the areas you work in and, you the opportunity there.

Rickey Jones (05:35)

We’ll make Cleveland good is so you can get the price, the price of entry in Cleveland is lower than anywhere else. So you can get properties easily for under $50,000. And that’s in anywhere else, you’re going to get a shell for $50,000. But in Cleveland, you can still get a property and still do a little bit of lipstick work and get it rented out or even possibly sell it.

Kristen Knapp (05:58)

Nice. Yeah, and how many deals are you doing a year? How many properties are you seeing?

Rickey Jones (06:05)

It just fluctuates, so it just varies. I think with the last couple years I’ve bought over 50 units. So it just fluctuates.

Kristen Knapp (06:17)

Yeah,

that’s impressive. Can you talk about maybe a time where, you know, in the process of investing, things didn’t really work out for you and how you were able to troubleshoot and learn from it?

Rickey Jones (06:28)

I want to do something right now, like right now. I bought a property and I started buying property in Akron, Ohio, which is like 30 minutes from Cleveland where I normally buy properties. So I bought one property and I was pretty, you know, I rented it out, I bought it.

for $6,000 to put about $25,000 into it, start renting it out for about $1,200 a month. So then I ended up buying another property in Akron that was by the Akron Zoo and by LeBron’s I-Primus Housing.

LeBron James, our prime was housing and I bought that property. My guys started working on it and then it keep breaking and then I had somebody breaking to the property and breaking after breaking and I had some squatters living there. So it was a learning lesson for me to learn where maybe do a little more research before I expand to the different markets. right now I’m in a process of, I just got squatters out. So now I’m in the process of starting rehab right now.

Kristen Knapp (07:24)

That’s hard. That’s hard to deal with. What are the tenant laws in Ohio? Are they pretty strict?

Rickey Jones (07:31)

⁓ I won’t say strict. I’m kind of, yes, I’m used to it now, but if tenants got kids, when you go to eviction court, they’re going to give them more time.

Kristen Knapp (07:38)

Yeah, yeah, that’s such a challenge to work through. Well, this has been awesome. mean, you have a lot of good insight on the market and you’re doing such good work in the community. ⁓ Can you kind of wrap this up? Can you tell us maybe something you wish you learned earlier in your career that you could share with us today?

Rickey Jones (07:58)

I will probably say… ⁓

Don’t try to do everything, hire out and don’t go with lowest price. So I’ll probably say don’t go with the lowest price and don’t try to do everything.

Kristen Knapp (08:12)

Right, yeah, the cheapest is not really ever the best. You’re never going to get the best work. The most expensive doesn’t mean you’re getting the best work, but the cheapest you’re pretty much guaranteeing you’re not.

Rickey Jones (08:23)

trying to get three quotes to.

Kristen Knapp (08:25)

Yeah,

yeah, that’s good. Well, because the quotes are always so different.

Rickey Jones (08:29)

Yes. Yes. I mean, I think, think, you know, going back to your question, I think I would probably say to my younger self, ⁓ don’t, especially don’t go to the cheapest quote and try to get three and try to get three quotes and go from there.

Kristen Knapp (08:48)

Well, yeah, I think that’s really, really good advice. So tell people where to find you and how ⁓ to keep in touch with you as you launch this mentorship program.

Rickey Jones (08:57)

Okay, you can find me on IG, Mr. Buy and Hold. Comment on the last, my last post as podcast and then I’ll send you some information on the upcoming webinar.

Kristen Knapp (09:09)

Amazing! Well, I think that’ll be awesome. You know, you have such good insights for people to learn from. So, thanks so much for being here today.

Rickey Jones (09:18)

All right,

thanks for having me. I appreciate you.

Kristen Knapp (09:20)

And thank you everybody for listening. Hope you got some inspiration for your own business and learned a lot as well. And we will see you back next time.