All Forum Posts by: Matt Dingus

BP deal search is just feeding off the MLS listings I believe. There is a FSBO area to add your own listing if you go to Find Deals -> Community Listings you can add a listing there. I honestly don't know how much those used to move deals though or if anyone checks it. Send me the details of the deals, clients of mine or clients within our brokerage may be interested depending on the deal.

Hey @Fillip Nelson you're obviously getting a consistent answer to do the re-wire which I'd agree with. Another thing I'd note in general with BRRRRs, assuming you're using lending/hard money, I would always get the big ticket functional/mechanical costs done during the renovations. You have this time to leverage the money you're borrowing to get a lot of this done and not have to worry about it down the road as you own the property. If you skip the rewire, the roof, furnace, etc. now then after you refi and have to get it done at some point - then that 8k or cost will be coming out of your pocket. Just something to consider. Less worry and less money out of your own pocket.

Hey Steven - I'd be happy to connect. I've worked with quite a lot of remote investors and I'm certain I could give you some tips of things to do, avoid, etc.

If you shoot me a message I can send you a contact that can get that in place. BP doesn't allow email addresses, etc

Hi Karolina,

In Pittsburgh, we typically list Section 8 rentals on Zillow and similar platforms at the standard market rent you'd expect for a long-term rental. In the listing, you can include language like “Section 8 tenants welcome!” to attract voucher holders.

Once you begin receiving Section 8 applicants and move forward with submitting the voucher, that’s when we adjust the rent to match the maximum allowable amount for that property’s specific Section 8 tier. In many cases, that approved rate can be significantly higher than the standard long-term market rate—especially in areas where the Section 8 payment standards are more generous.

It’s worth noting that these rates can change over time. For example, this past year I believe Turtle Creek dropped from a Tier 6 to a Tier 1, which resulted in a steep decrease in the allowable rent. So yes, they can fluctuate. 

Hope this helps.

Hey Jasper - I'd be happy to a deeper dive into the deal to see what type of funding would suit it depending on what strategy you'd like to use. Depending on what condition it's in and what your exit strategy is, would help determine the lender/financing I'd recommend. Also I'd be sure to get a few experienced opinions on the deal before jumping on it - always a good idea especially if you're a newer investor. Feel free to shoot me over some details.

Hey Dustin - This is a great question. I work with a lot of out of state clients and I understand where you're coming from here. My typical process with remote buyers is always to get THOROUGH videos of the property of the interior, exterior, and the basement most importantly. My clients and I prefer videos rather than facetime because they can be rewatched/reviewed. Following the videos and review of everything, we'll make an educated offer from there. After they get it under contract, then some of my clients come into town to walk it themselves. This has always worked really well.

Honestly, it sounds like you haven't fully developed trust with the agent that you're working with otherwise you wouldn't have to ask these questions. But that can come with time. I think that will be key for you for investing remotely - you HAVE to trust the team you have on the ground in that city. Speaking for myself, when I work with remote investors, I want to do the best job I can to make sure I catch everything at the property before they offer on it (for many reasons). I want to see them be as successful as possible, so they continue investing here and trusting me as their advisor/guide/agent. So, if this agent has that in mind, then they shouldn't be skipping over anything to sell you one deal - that would be unfortunate short-term thinking.

Putting that to the side...I would certainly ask for the following, but not limited to...

Have them check the floors for any floor sloping/sagging or out-of-square door frames which is signs of foundation settling/issues (minimal signs of this can be ok). Ask if the basement smells damp. Check the basement walls for cracks, water/moisture. The joists/wood in the basement for termite signs. The sewer stack/plumbing. Check the electrical panel/wiring/outlets for any signs of old wiring/knob and tube. Windows can be a big # so see if they need replaced. Exterior if it needs siding that can be a big # also. And I would ask about the layout, if it functionally makes sense.

Those are some of the big hitters I can think of.

Hey Vinod - Congratulations on taking down 2 properties. That's a huge step. I'd be happy to connect and hear more about what you're looking to accomplish. At the very least, I'm sure we can help each other by bouncing off challenges/hurdles we've experienced in Pittsburgh, and I can offer you some guidance if that'd be helpful from what I'm seeing in this market based on my experience and my clients projects/deals. Feel free to reach out. 

Keegan - Congrats on taking some first steps on your real estate journey and happy to hear you're targeting Pittsburgh.

Some areas where student rentals work well at are in Oakland, South Side, Shady Side, Squirrel Hill, Bloomfield, Lawerenceville, Greenfield. South side, Greenfield will be your best bet considering the price to rent ratios. The other areas there can get higher on purchase price so can sometimes be tough for the deals to make sense. You'll get some great appreciation on most of these areas compared to most other areas of the city. 

Pros/Cons I've seen with this strategy (some being obvious) - Pros being high demand and low vacancy. High rental yields since you can charge higher rent typically than traditional. Cons I'd say high turnover/shorter lease terms (many investors absolutely hate this), high wear and tear/higher possibility of careless tenants, management intensity can be higher, seasonality.

Hope that helps. It'd be interested to hear more about what your goals are, which would help narrow in more on what you could focus on when investing here.

Hey what's up Sebastiano,

You picked a great city and market with Pittsburgh. I agree with the areas Jeremy mentioned above. Couple thoughts and suggestions if it helps. BRRRRs in general can be tough to find any more in today's market that pencil out, unless you're ok with leaving a chunk of $$ in the deal. A 2-4 unit BRRRR deal where you pull all of your cash out is a home-run. It can be very tough to find those deals because A) Most 2-4 units are occupied so you can't go in right away and start swinging hammers and renovate all the units and I'd say B) Because most of them aren't totally distressed where there's enough value-add potential, especially in the somewhat decent areas (different story in the D-F areas).

With that being said, I would certainly still target this as your goal for your first deal here because it can certainly be done and would be awesome. However, I would invite you to open your buy box a bit and include single family homes as well. The cash flow may not be as nice on the backend as they are with the multis, but I think the key here is there will be a lot more opportunities for you to get a deal done. Plus there's a large demand for single family home rentals here, the tenants stay longer, pay all utilities...among some other benefits compared to the 2-4's.

So in my opinion, that's one of the most important things to consider when you're first getting started is to start doing deals, get experience, grow your team, etc. - if you're someone that wants to grow a large portfolio and continue doing rehab projects. More important to me than finding the perfect deal is to get the reps and create those opportunities to do so. Hope that helps a bit. Reach out if you'd have further questions.