All Forum Posts by: Eric Samuels

Quote from @Greg H.:

Not the biggest Dave Ramsey fan, but I do believe in 'live like no one else so eventually you can live like no one else"

While I have owned a home since my early 20's, I never had the dream home but more like shelter.  At 59, I now own only my second ever new vehicle.  

I have flipped houses for 30+ years.  Every time I flipped a couple, I used the profits to buy another rental.  Never lived anywhere close to the top of my means

By doing that,  the last 10 years or so I have lived the dream.  Net $20+K per month in rental income a month and not only have a very nice home but have a nicer vacation home.   

 Thank you for this response Greg. This really resonated with me. I feel at this stage I really need to be focusing on building out my real estate business but time will only be less available and I haven't been putting in enough work. I could definitely do better at spending less as well to hopefully save enough to continue pursuing both my personal/family real estate goals and my business real estate goals. I've never really pursued flipping because of the type of work it required but I admire flippers like you. Would love to hear more about it whenever you have the time. Thanks!

My partner and I are trying right now. She’s in her late 30s so we want to prioritize having kids over anything. She’s always been a renter as well and one of her biggest goals is to own property. We live in LA and I have a duplex back in Philly where I’m from. My goal is to increase investment properties in the smartest way possible and an expensive condo in LA might not be the best next step for my real estate journey but makes a lot of sense for my life. We’re not rushing into purchasing anything but are looking. I feel like I just need to look just as hard for investment properties as I am for condos and whichever opportunity comes up first we should have a conversation about. Then we could make the decision together. Wanted to hear some thoughts outside of the two of us.

Thanks,

Thanks everyone. So looks like the guy was removed from the property. It's not just a concern of how to prevent this from happening again but that's not my responsibility or my in-laws so we're working on getting them out of the unit.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some advice to help my in-laws deal with disruptive neighbors in their complex. I unfortunately don’t have an easy way of getting them out as an investor given my property is in another state and I haven’t built enough stability as an investor yet but their landlord seems to be letting in random section 8 tenants without screening them properly. Unfortunately they are retirees in Los Angeles paying an affordable rent controlled amount so they are hesitant to leave. I’d like to talk to the landlord myself given I used to live in that property as well and know him myself. The disruptive neighbor is damaging property, yelling at late hours of the night and I think even harming other tenants. They’ve called the police multiple times to no avail. Is the only option for the landlord to start the eviction process? What would be the best approach to talk to the landlord to do his frickin job. The tenants are scared. In the meantime I’m trying to find a property that my in-laws can move into (I am currently renting in LA and don’t have the space for them yet unfortunately) but they are scared they won’t be able to afford another place in LA if they move at this point.

Thoughts?

So my duplex was vacant for almost a year (could have been more aggressive with finding tenants) and I was let go from my job back in January so I was bleeding for a while. I got a good paying job and my property is now cash flowing a bit which is good. Thankfully my job covers my insurance completely and gives me 20k in equity every year but no 401k match.

I think I'd like to start investing in my Roth IRA which I have but haven't contributed since I've bought the duplex back in September 22 but I'm trying to figure out my budget again because I've moved to Los Angeles to live with my gf.

My reserves have definitely taken a hit so I’d like to build it back up and am hesitant to start contributing again until I can have a reserve for my real estate (thinking 6 months worth until I’m comfortable contributing to Roth again)

Is this dumb? Should I just start contributing again? I most likely can afford it but am really keen on building up a reserve be side there’s still a few things to fix in the place and I want to make sure I’m adding enough equity to the place to eventually cash out refi and get my next property.

Hi guys,

My money partners are looking for a property that will generate them income when they are not living in Philly but will give them a place to stay when they are back in town. Looking to do mid term rental in the unit that is left furnished while they are not there and Section 8 in the other units ideally.

Just trying to get my reps in with deal calculations. Seller's current asking price is $525,000 but I was thinking of asking at $450,000.

Property is zoned CMX-1 and is currently configured as commercial downstairs plus two apartments upstairs and basically in Shell condition. (I've yet to take a look at the property to confirm.)

ARV Comps:

https://www.redfin.com/PA/Philadelphia/1012-S-24th-St-19146/...

https://www.redfin.com/PA/Philadelphia/1709-Christian-St-191...

https://www.redfin.com/PA/Philadelphia/1525-Christian-St-191...

Rental Comps: 

For gross rent determination I'm assuming room configuration to be 3 bed 1 bath for two units and a 2 bed 1 bath for the last (furnished unit). Section 8 rent payment standards has the city willing to pay up to $3,120 per 3 br unit so I used gross rent of $6,240 given rent for the furnished 2/1 unit would be too variable with partners living there as they please.

Phila.gov info:

https://property.phila.gov/?p=871540010

https://atlas.phila.gov/927%20S%2017TH%20ST/zoning

Questions:

Does homeowner's insurance seem right for this? How about hard money interest rates? Please let me know if anything seems off.

Thanks!

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*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

Quote from @Eric Samuels:

@Theresa Harris

My long distance girlfriend lives in LA and I plan on marrying that woman. I understand it’s not the best financial decision but I don’t care. Long distance is ruining our relationship. She just got a new job out there and needs to get thousands of hours to get her MFT license in CA. Can’t make her move to Philly.

I used to live in LA and my W-2 experience was in tech/the entertainment industry so frankly it would be easier for me to find another job but still shooting for remote in general.

Trust me if I could stay in Philly I would.

And yes $1000/month is a few hundred under market.

 That makes sense moving to be with your girlfriend.  For the basement unit, why are you renting it out below market value?

It still needs a light Reno. Some drywall replacement, repainting, need to add a backsplash to the kitchen, maybe replace cabinets, flooring could be redone. Not where it needs to be to get full price at the moment. Which is why renting to my friend would be a pro because he’s fine with the condition but I think I’m leaning towards a no. I waited a LONG time to get a section 8 tenant on the upstairs unit so I can wait longer to get a section 8 tenant on the first floor. Unless my friend agrees to $800 for a definite amount of time where he’s gonna be out after a year regardless then it’s prob not a good idea.

@Eric Samuels sorry I miss read. Yea overall I’m not 100% convinced on either decision right now tbh. If I’m able to land a job within the next few months I’m prob more willing to wait it out and find someone else.

@Nathan Gesner like I said I already told him I would evict him if he fails to pay. We’ve already discussed that business is business. I wanted to make that clear.

@David Peschio

Conversation has already been had multiple times. Like I said originally. I told him I’m not afraid to evict him if it leads to that and he understood. That’s why he didn’t submit an application already. Waiting to get into a better situation.