New to BP, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 19 posts · 2 votes

Hi Bigger Pockets community,

My name's Mike DeLeo. I'm very excited to be here on Bigger Pockets. I've listened to a few podcasts on YouTube, and finally made the move to create my account on here.

I have some real estate experience with commercial rental properties in the Doylestown, PA area. I now work in the insurance industry, and as much as it is a solid job where I could mold a successful career if I choose to, I feel more of a desire to explore real estate investing. Once I left real estate in my old job and started my most recent job, I felt an even stronger desire to pursue real estate investment.

Thanks for having me, and looking forward to my Bigger Pockets experience!

Mike

0 Reply

13 views

13 Replies

Jump to latestLatest

Sort by

Troy Sheets
Developer · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 902 votes
11y
Welcome Mike! What areas of REI are you interested in? What are some of your goals?
0 Reply
Mike DeLeo
OP
Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 19 posts · 2 votes
11y
Hey Tony,
Thanks for the welcome!
I'm in the early stages but I've mainly thought about getting into buying and holding multi-family homes.
Goal-wise, here's what I have in mind:
Right now I live at home, recently out of college (TU), working, and trying to get a picture of my personal financial status, essentially what's coming in and what all is going out. I'm almost there.
I feel like once I get a good picture of my finances I can start to look at properties and what I can afford. I am planning on living in one unit while renting out the other(s), whether it's a duplex/triplex/quadplex.
So this is the start of my REI. Once I get one property the idea is to build a portfolio but that will come with blood, sweat, and tears. My main focus in the next year(?) is to get one multi-unit property, build initial cash flows, and get land lord experience.
Don't hesitate to give feedback, I'm here to learn!
How about you? How long have you been involved in REI, and what sort of investments so you deal with?
0 Reply
Kim VandermarkPro Member
Investor · Henderson NV, USA · Member since 2015 · 41 posts · 10 votes
11y
Welcome @Mike DeLeo! Congratulations on your recent graduation and for finding BP! Sounds like you are on the right track to building a successful life!
0 Reply
Favia Vitan
Caloocan, NCR · Member since 2014 · 138 posts · 5 votes
11y
Welcome to Biggerpockets, Mike!
0 Reply
Larry Fried
Investor/RE Broker · Eugene, OR · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 968 votes
11y
@Mike DeLeo
Hi and welcome to BiggerPockets! It’s a great place to learn more about investing and meet the people you want to meet. If you haven't yet, be sure to check out the The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing and don't forget to set up your Keyword Alerts!
There are some good opportunities for REI in Philadelphia.
0 Reply
Mike DeLeo
OP
Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 19 posts · 2 votes
11y
Thanks Kim and Favia!
0 Reply
Garrett M.
Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 180 posts · 66 votes
11y
Welcome @Mike DeLeo
You'll find a lot of folks working in Philadelphia on BiggerPockets! There is some discussion of a BP member meet-up on April 4th. Be sure to set-up a keyword alert for Philadelphia, if you haven't done so already. Good luck to you!
0 Reply
Ronald Burgess
Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 12 posts · 0 votes
11y
Originally posted by @Garrett M.:

Welcome @Mike DeLeo
You'll find a lot of folks working in Philadelphia on BiggerPockets! There is some discussion of a BP member meet-up on April 4th. Be sure to set-up a keyword alert for Philadelphia, if you haven't done so already. Good luck to you!
Key word alert? I'm curious myself of this meet up.
Good luck Garrett, were in the same boat, although college was nearly a decade ago for me hah!
0 Reply
Dave VisayaPro Member
Moderator
Audio Engineer and Investor · Cebu City, Cebu · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 881 votes
11y
Hey @Mike DeLeo welcome to the site! It's great to have you! Feel free to jump in the community here and answer questions if you have time.
0 Reply
Troy Sheets
Developer · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 902 votes
11y
Originally posted by @Mike DeLeo:

Hey Tony,
How about you? How long have you been involved in REI, and what sort of investments so you deal with?
Mike,
I've been involved in REI off and on for 15 years or so having done both flips and buy/hold. I've narrowed my focus and gotten much more serious about it in the last 2 years or so. I'm currently doing both flipping and buy/holds, mainly in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia. There are lots of great areas in Philly to focus on, where are you looking?
0 Reply
Mike DeLeo
OP
Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 19 posts · 2 votes
11y
Originally posted by @Troy Sheets:

Originally posted by @Mike DeLeo:
Hey Tony,
How about you? How long have you been involved in REI, and what sort of investments so you deal with?
Mike,
I've been involved in REI off and on for 15 years or so having done both flips and buy/hold. I've narrowed my focus and gotten much more serious about it in the last 2 years or so. I'm currently doing both flipping and buy/holds, mainly in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia. There are lots of great areas in Philly to focus on, where are you looking?
Tony,
In my searching so far I've looked mainly around Greater Northeast Philly area, and Fishtown area. I like South Philly also. But I have much more searching to do.
How did you come across investing in Brewerytown?
0 Reply
Troy Sheets
Developer · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 902 votes
11y
Originally posted by @Mike DeLeo:

Originally posted by @Troy Sheets:
Originally posted by @Mike DeLeo:

Hey Tony,
How about you? How long have you been involved in REI, and what sort of investments so you deal with?
Mike,
I've been involved in REI off and on for 15 years or so having done both flips and buy/hold. I've narrowed my focus and gotten much more serious about it in the last 2 years or so. I'm currently doing both flipping and buy/holds, mainly in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia. There are lots of great areas in Philly to focus on, where are you looking?
Tony,
In my searching so far I've looked mainly around Greater Northeast Philly area, and Fishtown area. I like South Philly also. But I have much more searching to do.
How did you come across investing in Brewerytown?
We lived in a neighborhood adjacent to Brewerytown for 5 years and liked what we saw happening there. We rented for a year or two in Brewerytown to get a feel for it and save some down payment money, then took the leap and bought our MFH there. It's progressed faster and better than I could have even imagined since I started investing there 1.5 years ago. It's just now (IMHO) starting to reach critical mass although there are people that have been actively investing there for 12+ years that I know of.
0 Reply
Mike DeLeo
OP
Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 19 posts · 2 votes
11y
@Troy S.

Nice, sounds great. So when you say 'we', do you mean you and your wife went in as partners, or do you have a pertnership with others?

And, I've been thinking/contemplating ways of getting to know areas for potential investment. It's obviously a more long-term method of finding out if a location is right for you, but do you recommend renting, before investing, in an area that you think you are likely to invest in (like you did yourself)?
0 Reply

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.