All Forum Posts by: Elise Bickel Tauber

@Avtandil G. 

@Anthony Angotti is a GREAT agent. I would consider working with him. He works with a lot of the investors that we manage for and he has tremendous knowledge of the market. He can point you in the right direction for great deals! 

I will say from a leasing/management perspective, we have seen a huge uptick in interest and quality of tenants in the last year in areas like Brentwood, Brookline, Bellevue, Avalon, Beechview, Brighton Heights, Millvale, Sharpsburg, Swissvale, Carnegie, and Carrick. 

Also, in the last month or two we have seen a pretty decent interest in Mt Oliver and Ingram.

Best of luck in your Pittsburgh investing!!

@Michaela G. what price range are you looking at? There are properties in C and D neighborhoods in Pittsburgh that are for purchase in the 15-40k range. Of course those will need some work. You can get decent properties around the $50-$80k range. Good 10-12 CAPs. Are there better markets out there that are lower for purchase? 

From my understanding, where I'm located in Pittsburgh, if you become a property management entity and the entity does not own the property, you must be registered with the real estate commission which does require a licensed broker (not sales agent) and business location that must be inspected by the real estate commission. I know of a lot of property management companies in Western PA that are not properly licensed and registered and the commission is cracking down. Not sure if your location(s) have different laws. 

Pittsburgh has been a really good location for investors. I'm seeing that there is a little something for everyone here. Whether you are looking higher end properties or lower end; brrrs, etc . Its all here. I also like that you see a nice ripple effect here. For example, Lawrenceville is a really popular area, and ask inventory dries up and rents increase pretty substantially, you see neighboring areas like Millvale and Sharpsburg start to increase. It helps predict future competitive markets.

Let me know if you end up with a good management company for short term rentals (air bnb). We get a lot of requests to manage air bnb properties and while we are open to looking into this option, we currently don't have a ton of experience so I would love to have someone we can refer these interested investors to!

I would like to suggest Tony Angotti and Gary Swank if you end up Pittsburgh. Both are on bigger pockets. GREAT agents!!!

I did a lot of research on this before starting my own company. It is pretty standard from what I'm seeing that the "rent a broker" cost was anywhere from $500-$1500. If you are just starting out they may want a flat fee but usually the cost is a percentage of the business. good luck!!

So alex, we do nothing as now? How will we know when to start? I asked my CPA and he was looking into it as well. Thanks!

I recently started my own property management company, but prior to this I was working underneath a large franchise. When I opened my doors to my new company in the last week or two I came to find a new 1099-MISC tax withholding from the beginning of the year that I had never heard of. Apparently we as property managers are required to withhold 3.07% of owner's income for out of state owners and properly file that withholding with the federal government. Am I understanding that correctly? I know for 100% fact the large franchise I just left was not doing this and I was hoping for a little direction as my CPA isn't back for another week.

Please excuse my ignorance and thank you everyone for your help!

I don't know if this is allowed or not (if not please remove). Coldwell Banker does a GREAT study prep class. I'm not a Coldwell Banker agent but I have a lot of colleagues who did their study class and passed the next time they took the test. Good luck!