Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2017 · 26 posts · 11 votes
Good afternoon All,
My name is Erica Chambers. I live in Philadelphia, PA and am looking to transition into the next phase of life. To be honest, I am looking to become financially prepared for retirement (I'm no where need where I want to be). I am a paralegal and a notary loan signing agent. I have been watching BP Youtube videos for the past several weeks and have become inspired to become an investor. Since then I participated in the webinar yesterday and will be participating in the upcoming webinars on August 18th and 23rd. Realizing that I am starting from the bottom, I am looking forward to learning everything there is to know about real estate investing and hope to build relationships in the BP community.
@Erica M Chambers welcome to Philadelphia RE Estate Investing! You'll find a great community here. Stay close to guys like @Steve Babiak and @Chris K.. Many of these guys are invaluable on this site and great sources of info.
I run a fix and flip investment fund in Denver and we created a project management and training system based on our experience over the last five years. I have a brother in New Hope, a sister by Collegeville, two nieces and a nephew in Philadelphia. I like Geno's more than Pat's but they're both amazing! I think it's awesome you are starting your journey and if there is any way I can help you, feel free to reach out. I've had some great people help me along the way and now it's my turn.
1. To learn everything I can regarding real estate with emphasis on investing.
2. To start with single family homes and duplexes and work my way to multi-family units.
3. Get past my fear of doing this (I guess this should be first).
4. Build a portfolio to support me in retirement and empower my grandchildren.
5. To do this in the next ten years.
So far, I have been on Bigger Pockets on a daily basis. I will be obtaining my RE license in the next 60 days (The September session was already full). I realize that i don't necessarily need a RE license but I want to become educated from as many angles as possible.
@Erica M Chambers, welcome to BP! Philly has a very strong investor base and there are a ton of great networking groups and events. Meetup.com will show you a ton if you search real estate investing. DIG (Diversified Investors Group) is one of my favorite groups so far. They have subgroups all throughout the greater Philly area and also for various investing niches. Highly recommend becoming a regular at their meetings, you will learn a ton and meet the big players in Philly investing. Hope to see you around.
@Tom Hurford showing your colors as a non Philadelphian! :p Pats and Genos... get out of here with that!
@John Knisely you are hilarious! Don't be too hard on non-Philadelphians. I had someone tell me that they were born and raised in Philadelphia. When I asked where did they live, they told me on 14th Street. Really? Anyway, that's for the tip. I'll start looking for those Meetup.com events.
@John Knisely you are hilarious! Don't be too hard on non-Philadelphians. I had someone tell me that they were born and raised in Philadelphia. When I asked where did they live, they told me on 14th Street. Really? Anyway, that's for the tip. I'll start looking for those Meetup.com events.
Welcome! I attend many of the local REIA meeting in Philadelphia. There are meetings once a month in different part of the city. NW Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, Riverwards, University City, and Commercial sub group. Check out Diversified Investor Group.
I will add two organizations that Philadelphia investors should consider.
For those who own rental property inside the City of Philadelphia, consider joining HAPCO. The price of the HAPCO eviction service, should you ever need an eviction performed in Philadelphia, is hard to beat; and HAPCO offers information on complying with Philadelphia landlord ordinances, plus they have a private online forum for getting questions answered and for referral of various trades that investors need.
And whether you are inside the Philadelphia city limits or in the suburbs, you should look into joining DIG as well: http://digonline.org/
DIG has more than twenty subgroups meeting all over the Philadelphia area; and DIG also has a private online forum for getting questions answered and for referral of various trades that investors need. Plus DIG offers lots of different forms of education for investors.
1. To learn everything I can regarding real estate with emphasis on investing.
2. To start with single family homes and duplexes and work my way to multi-family units.
3. Get past my fear of doing this (I guess this should be first).
4. Build a portfolio to support me in retirement and empower my grandchildren.
5. To do this in the next ten years.
So far, I have been on Bigger Pockets on a daily basis. I will be obtaining my RE license in the next 60 days (The September session was already full). I realize that i don't necessarily need a RE license but I want to become educated from as many angles as possible.
Well you don't need to learn everything you can about RE in order to start. You will continue learning in a process. I would advise you to start with learning about your own credit, go to a lander and see what loan you are qualified for? Even if you don't have enough down payment , you can always try FHA. You mentioned your kids are grown .If you are flexible you can try househacking. I would suggest start with a duplex and live in one unit for a year. This is a grate opportunity to get your feet wet with landlording. I always come across duplexes wich are HUD properties that means for the first 15 or 20 days they are on a market, non owner occupi investors can not submit offers. So considering a crazy competition for duplexes in good areas HUD properties gives you a great chance to get it as the owner-occupy.
I personally don't like SF. If you have vacancy you have to pay mortgage out of pocket. But with duplex that risk is split between 2 units.
Some people read piles of books, listen to podcasts, attend seminars and different meet up groups they seems to know everything about RE but they never start.
That's awesome that you are getting started with real estate investing. I actually am from Mount Laurel, NJ so that is pretty cool :)
About getting your real estate license, I am totally for it because of the ease and convenience that it creates. As for taking it as a class, you won't really learn much about actual real estate there other than laws, practices, etc. New agents go through the class and come out from it and barely use anything they learned lol.
As for your goals, get more specific! How many properties do you want to acquire? How much cash flow do you want a month? The more specific you are with your goals the better and the more success you will attain.
@Steve Babiak He said South Philly born and raised on 14th Street. LOL. Thanks for all the information. I look forward to meeting you at one of these meetings.
@Dylan Tettemer it will be nice to know the laws and practices (since I'm a paralegal, it will also enhance my resume somewhat). As for the specifics, I would like to get to 5K per month within a few years with single family homes and duplexes, by year 5 I would like to have a few multi-family homes. I don't want to be unreasonable with my goals.
@Ron Flatt thanks so much. I'm starting the challenge from the webinar which is to analyze at least one property a day for the next thirty days. Wish me luck.
@Account Closed Thanks for the insight. The goal is not just to learn about Real Estate but to do something with it. I already have a degree (Masters) that I barely use. I won't be moving too slow. I don't have time to store information, I need to move forward so that I can live comfortably when I reach retirement age.