All Forum Posts by: David Ribardo

@Jonathan Yeung, welcome to the BP forum! There are a few good motivated investor agents here in the Valley - talk to a few of them, and see who is a good fit for you.

As far as property managers go, they run the full spectrum. Some of them are high cost, high service, and will run 10% plus a full months rent for tenant placement. Assuming a 1 year tenant turnover, that gives you an effective cost of 18%, and will kill your profit margins. On the investor-friendly side, you can find some with rates as low as 7% plus half a months rent for tenant placement, giving you an effective cost of 11%. Then, as you scale up, other options may become available. If you need some recommendations for who to talk to, shoot me a message and I'll put you in touch.

@Graig B. - What are you looking for an attorney for? 

Here in PA we typically use title companies for closing, and real estate agents do all the sales contracts using standardized forms. I have done attorney closings before, but they all cost more and had a lower quality service compared to the title companies I've dealt with. My clients have only needed to get an attorney involved for drafting partnership agreements and non-standard contracts. 

@Christopher Bruno Welcome to the forum! Great place with lots of valuable insight.

Overall, I recommend you choose a lender that is local to your investment. Most of my clients are out of state and buy in the Lehigh Valley, and they have had good results using the local lenders here. As long as the lender is in-state, and / or does a good number of loan closings in the state, you should be fine. The only time I've had lender issues is with a California based loan company that didn't understand Pennsylvania real estate law. You will deal with your lender primarily by phone / email and send documents to them digitally, so their location doesn't matter all that much.

@Ezekiel Cruz - If you talk to a local real estate agent, they can set you up with MLS access, which will give you the most accurate information on properties available for sale. Sites such as Zillow and Realtor will have plenty of these listings for you to analyze. There is no reason you should pay for listings when they are all being marketed for free!

There are many strategies for finding deals on the MLS. I personally like targeting stale listings, reaching out to owners who have been marketing their properties for 120+ days but have not sold them yet. Another I like is to find good deals the day they pop up and move quickly. I recommend you reach out to an agent that specializes in working with investors, or find an investor who is willing to partner with you for a project. It's a hot market, but there are still plenty of deals to be had!

@James Zhang, the key is building excitement for the property being new on market. I use a marketing strategy that puts properties across the MLS and all major channels, including social media, craigslist, and the usual Zillow / Trulia etc. I also host a open house that first weekend.

I've found the biggest factor is proper pricing. If a property is priced too high and sits on the market, all the excitement is gone and it will sell below asking. We have been getting multiple offers on our "launch weekends" and frequently getting above asking price from the bidding wars. If you want to save a commission by selling directly, you can go the for sale by owner route. My personal experience is that by using an agent with a good marketing team, you can get a sales price that is high enough to offset the commission you will pay... but as an agent, I'm biased, of course. I'll second what @Aaron Poling said above - offer to pay the buyer's agent commission. It will get a lot more interest in your properties.

Either way - good luck!

Overall the NIZ is a desirable area to be investing. If you had gotten in several years ago, it would be hard NOT to be successful. However, recent growth has started to level off and I found this article to be pretty interesting. If you are looking to invest in Allentown based on appreciation from economic development, might want to look into the waterfront project area.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-biz-n...

https://thewaterfront.com

Welcome! Infantry here, got out after 8 years to pursue real estate full time. Ask me about my Fort Polk rental portfolio sometime... learned a lot of lessons on that one!

Hey Chris, welcome to the community. I recommend you go to some of the meetups in the area. @Justin Brown hosts a great BP meetup, and there are a few more you can find on meetup.com. If you need any more info on which ones to go to, let me know!

@Justin Brown I hope to be make it next month, it's been too busy of a summer! Also count me in for the next after-party at Union and Finch!

There are a few different active groups here in the Lehigh Valley. Definitely check out @Justin Brown's group - it's a great place to meet people, discuss deals, and get feedback on your strategies. Meetup.com has a few others. If you need some recommendations or feedback on which ones to attend, shoot me a message!