All Forum Posts by: Joe S.

Hi @Roosevelt Harris, are you still considering investing in Darby, PA?  I am also intrigued by this area for a multifamily home purchase.  

Thanks @Jill DeWit and @Lesley Govan!  I appreciate your support and I am glad to have found these forums!

Hi @Russell Brazil, yes unfortunately the tax information is correct.  I wish it were not but the taxes are very high in this area.  I appreciate your reply.  According to the 50% rule this buy may be pretty good, but when you factor in those taxes, the current purchase price is too high?  This property last sold for 120k in 2009.  There have not been any major cosmetic upgrades or rehab work.  Perhaps if I could get this property for around the 2009 price it would be a good deal?  Once again, I'm a first time buyer looking to occupy one of the units and rent the other 2.  thanks!

Hi all.  I have found this site to be a wealth of information and it is now my go to source for RE investing.  I've been renting for the past 6 years since college but I am now interested in purchasing a small multi family property.  I am in the Philadelphia area.  Thankfully, I've learned from this site ALL costs that go into home ownership.  This was very discouraging at first, because I thought I was seeing great deals EVERYWHERE but it turns out they were not great deals at all.  I just was not accounting for all costs associated with ownership.  Wow, its HARD to find a good deal!  But certainly it saved me a huge headache down the road.  

Anyway, I've considered my current financial position and I think my best bet to start out would be a small multi family building where I would occupy one of the units.  My initial goal of this house hacking strategy is to live free which would allow me to save more right away because I won't be paying rent.  If I can live there and generate a small amount of cash flow, even better.  And of course, the property has to make sense from the perspective of me not living there and renting out all units.  

So I've been doing property analysis on all areas in and around Philadelphia that I would be comfortable residing.  I don't think I've seen a good deal yet based on the listing price.  However, I may have found one that comes close if I were to get it slightly below listing.  I've put some numbers below....what do you think for a first time purchase?

Price $140k for triplex

downpayment: $10k

loan amount $130k

Taxes $420/month

PITI 1097

gross Monthly income $2,000

less vacancy (200)

less maintenance (100)

less cap expenditure ( 100)

less property manager (200)

Less other costs (MI, lawncare etc. (200)

net income 1,200

So these are not all the numbers but after crunching them even in this 5 minute analysis, it does not look worth it to me.  Not enough cash flow to justify the risk.  The problem is, I've done analysis for LOTS of properties in and around Philly and none seem to work for me.  The only ones that fit the model for adequate cash flow are in neighborhoods I would not feel comfortable living in.  So I want to do this house hacking thing but cant find a good deal!  Is this normal?  Do you agree with my analysis?  What strategies can I use to find a good deal in my area or is it just a matter of checking the market constantly until one pops up?  THANKS SO MUCH THIS PLACE IS GREAT!!!