All Forum Posts by: Andrew Giunta

It really depends what strategy best suits you @Jonathan Cox. What are you looking for, income? Mostly appreciation? Do you want to manage the properties yourself or leave it to someone else? Do you want to buy something turnkey or something that needs some work. There are a million answers. I can try to help if you can narrow down what you are looking for. 

Glad to see people talking about Allentown and the Lehigh Valley area. Theres a slack channel invite on my profile where I want to create a space for Lehigh investors to talk. Feel free to join. 

@David Smith As someone from NJ, PA is , in my opinion, a Landlord state. Compared to NJ its much easier to get tenants out and harder to be held liable for things that are obviously the tenants fault. Taxes are a ton lower but you also usually have a higher quality of tenant in NJ (depending on where you invest). There are some differences, but I found that PA makes much more sense than 90% of places in NJ.

It is possible to profit, like David said it really depends on the contractor. I think if thats the direction you want to go with, you might want to find a partner who is willing to do the stuff at cost and split the profit with you. There is also just doing things the sweat equity way, but you would need to know a lot, especially about older buildings because so many of the row homes in Allentown are 100 + years old. 

I bought my first few out of state and this was a real concern to me. I decided to go with somewhere that was within a couple of hours from me so I could still take part if something went wrong. There have been some hiccups so I am happy that I was close enough. 

When selecting a property manager, its important to find someone who most fits your needs. Some property managers dont want you to talk to them every week or so and just want you to let them handle it. This can be annoying if you see something wrong and want to participate. Be upfront with what you are looking for out of a PM and let them know if they cant do that you arent interested. Also be weary of signing long contracts. I have found that any decent PM company will let you do a trial run on a month to month contract before having you sign for a year. 

Roofstock is really interesting and I love the concept, the only problem I have with their site is much of their stock seems like it can be a gamble. In my opinion you are better off sticking to one or a couple of areas that you will end up knowing inside and out so good deals are more apparent. 

Im not completely sure about what market you are in but like Lucas said, expenses can be killer. That gross seems to be low for the Rochester area (im not 100% sure though). Whats the actual net on the property ? Also take in mind with 7 units you cant get a residential 30 year fixed so its a different animal. 

Hey Ralph!

Im trying to get a bunch of Lehigh Valley investors, on a slack channel if you are interested. I have it in my profile description. I want there to be more lively talk so everyone is welcome. 

@Ryan Sarka Thanks! I just have to saveup for my next purchase. Hopefull I can pull it off by the end of the year. Thats my goal anyway. 

@Ryan Sarka I stick to the Lehigh Valley area, mostly in the big three cities (Allentown, Easton and Bethlehem). Buildings tend to be older but taxes are low and income compensates for the higher repairs. Also the Lehigh Valley area is booming economically and population wise, which is what really drew me there.