08/31/2026
# 🏡 The Bonafide Investor Weekly
**Presented by Bonafide Academy & The Bonafide Group**
**Week of August 31, 2026**
# # This Week’s Theme: Reset Your Buy Box Before Fall
September is here, which makes this a perfect time for investors to do something we don't talk about enough:
**Stop searching for “a deal” and define exactly what kind of deal you're looking for.**
If your investment criteria are still the same as they were at the beginning of 2026, it's time for a review.
Prices have changed. Financing has changed. Inventory has changed. Rents have changed.
Your **buy box** should change with them.
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# # 📊 Cincinnati Market Watch: More Choice Is Creating Opportunity
The latest complete Greater Cincinnati sales report is July, and the numbers show a market gradually moving toward better balance.
There were **3,271 active homes for sale**, up 5.7% year over year, while new listings climbed 7.3%. Homes sold in a median of nine days—up from seven days a year earlier. The median sold price was **$329,450**, only 1.4% higher than July 2025. ([REALTOR Alliance][1])
Another measure of the Cincinnati market shows an even more noticeable increase in selection: Realtor.com reported **4,562 active listings in July, up 19.5% year over year**, with approximately **21% of listings showing a price reduction**. Its broader metro methodology differs from the REALTOR® Alliance report, but both point in the same direction: buyers have more choices. ([Realtor][2])
# # # Investor translation?
I'm watching the properties that **didn't sell during the summer rush.**
September gives us a new category of seller:
**The seller who thought the house would be gone by now.**
That doesn't automatically mean they're desperate.
But it does mean I would start revisiting:
* Properties with multiple price reductions
* Listings sitting longer than competing homes
* Vacant houses
* Investor-owned properties
* Failed flips
* Back-on-market listings
* Properties purchased earlier this year and quickly relisted
Don't just search for new listings.
**Go back and look at what everybody else already passed over.**
[See the latest Greater Cincinnati market report](https://cincyrealtoralliance.com/greater-cincinnati-housing-market-gains-ground-as-inventory-expands/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
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# 💰 Financing Watch: Rates Aren't Giving Investors Much Help
As of **August 27**, Freddie Mac reported the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at **6.66%**, essentially unchanged from 6.65% the previous week. The 15-year average was 5.98%. A year ago, the 30-year average was 6.56%. ([Freddie Mac][3])
Remember: these are national conventional mortgage averages, not investor rates.
But here's what I want investors to notice:
We've spent most of August hovering around the **mid-6% range**.
So I'm no longer interested in building an investment plan around:
> “I'll just wait until rates drop.”
Maybe they will.
Maybe they won't.
Instead, ask:
**What terms would make this deal work today?**
Price is only one negotiating tool.
You can potentially negotiate:
* Seller-paid closing costs
* Repair credits
* Rate-buydown assistance where permitted
* Longer or shorter closing
* Seller financing
* Purchase-money financing
* Delayed possession
* Furniture/equipment inclusion on certain investments
Sometimes two offers at the same purchase price are completely different investments because their **terms** are different.
[See Freddie Mac's August 27 mortgage-rate report](https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
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# 🏘️ Rental Market Update: Cincinnati Rent Growth Is Positive—But Modest
Zillow's most recent Cincinnati rental data, updated **August 28**, puts average asking rent across property types at approximately **$1,444 per month**.
That's only **$36 higher than one year ago**.
Zillow currently shows approximately **2,069 rentals available** and characterizes Cincinnati renter demand as **warm**. ([Zillow][4])
This is exactly why I keep telling investors:
# # # Stop making future rent increases do all the work.
A rental purchased today should be analyzed using a realistic **today rent**.
If rents grow later?
Great.
That's upside.
But I don't want the spreadsheet saying:
> Year 1: Barely works
> Year 2: Barely works
> Year 3: Now we're making money because I assumed rents increased 8%.
No ma'am. 😂
**The investment needs a stronger reason to exist.**
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# 🔎 Opportunity of the Week
# # The September “Second Look”
Here's your strategy this week.
Instead of pulling brand-new listings, pull properties that came on the market in:
**June and July.**
Now determine which ones are still active.
Those sellers entered the market during prime summer selling season expecting one outcome.
September may have given them another.
For each property, check:
**Original list price → Current price → Days on market → Price reductions → Previous contract history**
Then call and find out what's really happening.
You may discover:
* Inspection problems
* Appraisal issues
* Buyers whose financing failed
* Overpricing
* Property-condition issues
* Sellers becoming more flexible
This is when an investor's ability to solve problems becomes valuable.
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# 📚 Bonafide Education Corner
# # Your Buy Box Should Have 7 Numbers
When somebody tells me:
**“I'm looking for an investment property.”**
That isn't a strategy.
I want Bonafide investors to know these seven numbers:
**1. Maximum Purchase Price**
What's the absolute most you're willing to spend?
**2. Maximum Rehab**
How large of a construction project can you financially and operationally handle?
**3. Minimum ARV**
What does the finished property need to be worth?
**4. Minimum Monthly Rent**
What's the lowest realistic rent that makes the investment worthwhile?
**5. Minimum Cash Flow**
What do *you* require after expenses and reserves?
**6. Maximum Cash Invested**
How much capital are you comfortable having tied up?
**7. Minimum Profit**
For a flip, what's the minimum profit that justifies months of risk, work, financing and uncertainty?
Now when a property crosses your desk, you aren't asking:
**“Do I like it?”**
You're asking:
**“Does it fit my business?”**
That's a much better question.
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# 🎯 Market Takeaway of the Week
The Cincinnati market is becoming more interesting for disciplined investors.
Prices remain relatively stable. Sales remain active. But inventory is expanding, days on market are stretching, price reductions are becoming more visible, rents are growing only modestly, and financing is still expensive. ([REALTOR Alliance][1])
That's not a bad market.
That's a market that requires **skill.**
And I actually prefer that.
When everybody could buy anything and make money, education didn't matter nearly as much.
In this environment?
Knowing how to analyze a deal becomes your competitive advantage.
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# ✅ Your Action Step This Week
# # Build Your Fall 2026 Buy Box
Write down:
**Property type:**
Single-family / Duplex / Multifamily / Other
**Target neighborhoods:**
---
**Maximum purchase price:**
$____________________
**Maximum rehab:**
$____________________
**Minimum flip profit OR cash flow:**
$____________________
**Maximum cash invested:**
$____________________
**Preferred financing:**
---
**Deal breakers:**
---
Then here's the important part:
# # # Send your buy box to three people.
Your agent.
Your lender.
And another investor or wholesaler.
People cannot bring you opportunities if they don't know what you're looking for.
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# 💬 A Word From Brandy
There is a point in your investing journey when you have to stop saying:
**“I'm looking for a deal.”**
Because everybody is looking for a deal.
The question is:
**What does a deal look like for YOU?**
Your money.
Your risk tolerance.
Your experience.
Your contractors.
Your goals.
Your exit strategy.
The property that's perfect for somebody else might be absolutely wrong for you—and that's okay.
We're not competing to see who can buy the most houses.
**We're building wealth.**
And wealth requires discipline.
Know what you want.
Know your numbers.
And when something doesn't fit your plan...
Have enough confidence to say **NEXT.**
# # # 🔥 Bonafide Challenge of the Week
**Build the buy box. Share the buy box. Then analyze five properties against it—without changing your rules just because you like the house.**
Because a disciplined investor doesn't make the property fit the numbers.
**The numbers determine whether the property gets invited into the portfolio.** 🏡💰
[1]: https://cincyrealtoralliance.com/greater-cincinnati-housing-market-gains-ground-as-inventory-expands/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Greater Cincinnati Housing Market Gains Ground as Inventory Expands - REALTOR Alliance of Greater Cincinnati"
[2]: https://www.realtor.com/news/local/cincinnati-oh/real-estate-market-cincinnati-oh-july-2026/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Cincinnati Buyers Gain Options as Inventory Surges and Prices Hold"
[3]: https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Mortgage Rates - Freddie Mac"
[4]: https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/cincinnati-oh/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Average Rental Price in Cincinnati, OH | $1,444"