Ohio has the best cash flow arithmetic in the country and the widest gap between the yield people quote and the yield people keep. Here is what the three metros actually do, what eats the difference, and how we finance against it.
Cleveland is the market everyone cites, and the numbers hold up. Zillow's typical home value inside the city was $120,549 as of May 2026, and observed market rent was $1,250 a month. That is roughly a 12.4 percent gross yield. Use HUD's conservative benchmark instead — the fair market rent for a two-bedroom in Cuyahoga County is $1,279 — and you get about 12.7 percent. Other analyses put Cleveland at 9.8 to 11.3 percent on entry prices near $110,000 to $140,000. Whichever source you take, it clears double digits, and almost nowhere else does.
The reason is arithmetic rather than cleverness. When the denominator starts near $120,000 instead of $400,000, a modest rent produces a strong yield before the investor does anything at all. Ohio's statewide median value is about $226,000, roughly 64 percent of the national figure.
Here is the part the yield tables leave out. Ohio has the widest gross-to-net gap of any market we lend into, and three costs drive it.
Property tax is high, not low. Franklin County's effective rate is about 1.67 percent of market value, ranked 252nd out of 3,143 US counties. A $250,000 Columbus rental carries roughly $4,500 a year. That is Sun Belt money on Midwest rent, and it sits inside the DSCR payment.
The housing stock is old. Double-digit yields exist because the buildings are eighty and a hundred years old. Knob-and-tube wiring, galvanized supply lines, original slate and asbestos siding, and basements that have been wet since the Truman administration. The capital expenditure line in an Ohio pro forma is not optional and it is not small.
Cities regulate rentals directly. Cincinnati runs a rental registration program with periodic inspections, and unaddressed code violations draw fines starting at $150 a day. Several Ohio cities operate something similar. Budget for compliance, and price the repairs the inspector will find.
None of that makes Ohio a bad market. It makes it a market where the deal is won on underwriting rather than on the headline.
The landlord framework is among the most workable in the country. No rent control anywhere in the state. Three-day notice for nonpayment. Evictions running thirty to forty-five days generally, and two to three weeks through the Hamilton County courts in Cincinnati.
For a buy-and-hold borrower, speed of remedy is money. A market with a twelve percent gross yield and a nine-month eviction is worse than one with a nine percent yield and a three-week eviction, and Ohio is the second of those.
Section 8 also works differently here than investors expect. In Hamilton County the payment standards line up with market rents across most investor-grade neighbourhoods, so a Cincinnati landlord taking vouchers is not conceding below-market rent to do it.
Citywide median sale prices range roughly $100,000 to $130,000 depending on which provider and month you take, with rents at $1,200 to $1,300 in early 2026. Typical value is down about 2.3 percent year over year, so this is not an appreciation story and should not be underwritten as one. Vacancy runs mid single digits citywide but varies sharply by submarket. Ohio City, Tremont and University Circle command materially higher rents than the outlying neighbourhoods, and they are also where the renovation costs run highest. Cleveland rewards buying right and managing tightly; it punishes remote absentee ownership more than any market on this list.
The anomaly in Ohio: the one big city genuinely growing, with about 200,000 residents added since 2000. Median sale price reached $335,000 in March 2026, up 4.7 percent year over year, with occupancy above 95 percent on well-managed property. Ohio State puts 66,000 students into the rental pool, and Intel's $20 billion semiconductor campus in New Albany is the largest private investment in state history, ramping through the early 2030s.
Cap rates stratify cleanly. Urban cash-flow neighbourhoods — Hilltop, South Linden, Franklinton — run 7 to 10 percent. First-ring suburbs like Reynoldsburg, Gahanna and Westerville run 6 to 8. The premium suburbs, Dublin at a $615,000 median, Powell and New Albany, run 4 to 6 percent and are bought for appreciation and tenant quality rather than yield. For reference, national single-family rental cap rates averaged about 7.3 percent at the end of 2025.
Two costs specific to Columbus: the 1.67 percent county effective tax rate, and a 2.5 percent municipal income tax that applies to anyone working in the city, which trims tenant take-home and therefore what the market will bear.
Median home around $215,000 with rents near $1,200 and cap rates around 7.5 percent, on vacancy consistently below five percent. The employment base is the real story: ten Fortune 500 headquarters — Kroger, Procter & Gamble, Fifth Third, Western & Southern, Cincinnati Financial, American Financial, Cintas, Ashland, Chemed and GE Aerospace — which is more corporate headquarters per capita than most cities three times the size. That diversity is why the rental demand does not track any single industry.
Over-the-Rhine is the cautionary and instructive case. Fifteen years ago it was a byword for urban decline; today it has destination restaurants and condos above $400,000. Investors who bought early did extremely well, and investors buying the same story now are paying for a renewal that has already happened.
Remember the 1.8 percent city income tax and the rental registration requirement when modelling.
Fix and flip and bridge from 10.99 percent with 1.99 points, up to 100 percent of cost and 70 percent of value, minimum loan $50,000, terms to twelve months, minimum credit score 600. Ground-up construction from 8.5 percent on non-owner-occupied single family, $100,000 to $3 million. DSCR rental loans from 5.99 percent, $75,000 to $2 million, up to 80 percent of value, no minimum credit score, cross-collateral allowed across two or more properties. Commercial to $5 million at up to 75 percent of value, covering multi-family, mixed use, self storage, office, retail and industrial.
All non-owner-occupied, business purpose, held in an entity. There is also a rate match: a fully executed letter of intent from a competing lender, no contingencies, meeting the same underwriting, and the rate gets matched. Rate only, and not a commitment to fund.
The loan minimums matter more in Ohio than anywhere else we lend. With Cleveland stock trading around $120,000 and plenty of it well below, single properties can fall under the $50,000 flip floor or the $75,000 DSCR floor. The usual answer is the cross-collateral provision on DSCR, which allows two or more properties on one loan. Two $90,000 rentals financed together clear a minimum that neither clears alone, and that is often the difference between a portfolio you can finance and one you cannot.
A rehab budget written from photos. Century-old stock hides its problems until demolition. Wiring, plumbing, foundations and roofs on Ohio houses routinely add twenty percent to a scope drawn off listing pictures. Walk it, or send someone who will.
A gross yield used as a net yield. Twelve percent gross with high taxes, real capex, five to seven percent vacancy and management lands nowhere near twelve. Underwrite the net.
Taxes taken from the seller's bill. Same trap as everywhere, sharper here because the rate is high. Model at reassessed value.
Ignoring the rental registration. An unregistered property with open code violations is a compliance problem that compounds daily, and it will surface at refinance if not before.
A primary residence. We cannot lend on a home you intend to live in. Federal law, not preference.
Yes, statewide — Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and the smaller markets including Toledo, Dayton and Akron.
Gross, yes, and the underlying numbers are sound. Net is a different figure once tax, capex, vacancy and management come out, and the honest range depends entirely on the condition of the specific building. That is the number to underwrite.
Yes. DSCR allows cross-collateral across two or more properties, which is how most Ohio portfolio buyers get past the per-loan minimum on low-basis stock.
Days rather than the forty-five to sixty a bank takes. On distressed and as-is purchases, which is much of the inventory here, conventional financing usually will not go at all.
Answer these and we will tell you whether it is fundable, on what terms, and how fast it could close. Investment property only — we do not lend on a home you will live in.
We will run the numbers and come back to you. If it is time-sensitive, call 903-636-7511.
Dominion Hard Money arranges private and asset-based real estate financing for business purposes only. Not a commitment to lend. All loans subject to underwriting, property review, and approval. Terms vary by property, borrower experience, and exit strategy.
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