All Forum Posts by: Michael James

@Giang Nguyen Eric Richman https://www.homebridge.com/loan-originator/eric-ri...

I was going to use him for a 203k; however, I was late to the table and that property was sold before I had the chance. Eric does own some rental properties and understands the business quite well. 

Dave Whittaker welcome! Hopefully you find this site very useful for your search. It's definitely helped me eliminate a lot of properties which seem like good deals until you have all the numbers.

Kevin Rzeszuto just make sure it's a good deal, keep looking at multiple calculators and find people who have rental properties to guide you.

@Chris Fennimore no problem, I just saw your address in California and was a bit concerned you may not know about Pennsylvania too much.  If you are set on that area and it's a good deal, I'd go for it, but what you buy the place today will be exactly what you sell it for in 10 years.  Some of the areas around there have high taxes, which can kill profit.  But if you're trying to stay within that county, you can usually tell if it's a good deal by the school districts.  Check out www.greatschools.org, For this area they are usually a good guide for where people want to move.  A lot of people are stuck in Collingdale (which is SEDELCO School District) and will rent their home and get an apartment or small house because they are still upside down on to put their kids in a nicer school district that is about 15-20 mins west of Collingdale. 

My buddy owns several properties in Philadelphia. His father works for L&I and it's very difficult to get a legal duplex. He has two properties that are triplexes, and each tenant pays their portion of the utilities. He's never not had a renter and I'm not quite sure of how legal it is. But each floor has a kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom and he's never had trouble renting them.

Jason Unrath welcome! I read those two books as well and I can definitely say it's motivated me a ton. I'm definitely looking for a multifamily property, and some of the tips on this site are great for investing. Although the 2% rule is difficult to obtain in nice neighborhoods in the Philadelphia are. One good thing is to tell people that you're looking for a rental property which I wouldn't of done before listening to the podcasts, I actually had two family friends tell me about multifamily properties that were not even on the market and I got to take a look at them before they were listed. The asking price was a bit too steep, but they were in A+ neighborhoods, I just couldn't handle the asking price because the properties would not be cash flowing for me. I try to look for places that get at least 1% and were built as a duplex. Every house that's been converted has seemed to have some odd layouts. Well good luck and hopefully you find a place soon.

@Chris Fennimore that is a bit of a rougher neighborhood, it's a C minus D+ neighborhood. It's a place that's on the way down in value. 

Arjay Vergara congratulations!!!! It looks like you did a very good job! I hope the momentum builds and gets you moving towards more investment opportunities.

@Dara Diallo, I think you get the deeds online from Philadelphia.  It used to be free, but now they are charging for it I believe.  http://epay.phila-records.com/phillyepay/web/ It's about 15 dollars a day,  It should give you where the tax bill gets sent to, which may help you find the owners.  Most of the counties used to be free, delaware county seems to be the last ones that don't charge yet. 

@John Knisely agreed! @Adeiza Jatto Have you considered Baltimore area?  I grew up in Philadelphia, and the areas that were bad neighborhoods are starting to turn into nice neighborhoods, which rocks if you were a buy and hold type person to gain the appreciation value.  So you have any questions about the neighborhoods let me know, I'm very familiar with everything south and west of the downtown area.