All Forum Posts by: Rich O'Neill

Agree with DIG and DPI. Another one is Vanguard Real Estate Investor Group. Here is the Meetup link: https://www.meetup.com/West-Ch...

It's the second Wednesday of every month in West Chester. It's a great smaller group with a lot of active investors regularly attending. 

@Mel Park depending on what you made in the sale, you might want to look into investing in syndications. You can make some nice profits depending on how the deal is structured, and you don't have to do any of the work. If you take some sort of active role in the syndication (finding the deal, raising a chunk of money outside of your investment, etc) you can add onto that. Might be worth looking into. 

To directly answer the question, like everyone said before, this is an active business. The good news is that you have experience starting businesses, and that's what it takes. The beauty of this business is that you can grow as big as you want, or stay as small as you want. It really can be a lifestyle business. 

Part 1, unless you are CRYSTAL clear on your criteria, it will be hard to find a realtor that does what you are looking for. Even with that criteria, you will need to quickly show you can perform, and or pay them for their time. You also may want to look into wholesalers and get on their buyers lists. You will need to be active there reviewing the deals they send you, but with a clear criteria, this shouldn't be terribly difficult. 

Part 2, this is the most difficult to find. In the current environment, most contractors are busier than they can handle, and are either going with retail projects like kitchen renovations, or to the people they have worked with for years. In either case, they don't want to hear from someone that is going to send them all over the place for estimates to "do a bunch of deals together you do a good job." Chances are they have heard that line before, and don't trust it. 

"The Book on Long Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene is a great place to start with this business. Even if you want to be on site, it sounds like you are building it to be hands off, which is what the book is essentially all about.

@Nikolay V. One thing I noticed is that you said you wanted light to moderate rehabs. That is what EVERYONE wants, so it stands to reason that it will be harder to find that deal because of the competition. I am finding that the only deals that make sense right now are the big ugly ones that everyone else is too afraid of. Yes there is more risk in those deals and you need to partner with a contractor that has experience with these issues, but that is where you can add the most value, and therefore make the most money. 

Hey @Torrie Pennock I'm not sure I can help you much on the insurance other than to say that it might be similar to a policy they would write to an RE agent. If you are more worried about filling the insurance requirement, I believe the city has the specifics on what you need that you should be able to hand to the insurance company. If you are more worried about the actual coverage, I would mention the RE Agent comparison. 

Another thing to think about is looking outside the city. I find that there are not enough good wholesalers in Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery Counties (maybe Bucks too, but I don't look much there), so the market could be more open to new entrants. Of course, the city has lots of access to data which is important for building lists to market to, but a little hustle can get you similar results in the burbs. 

Best of luck to you! 

@Brian Amirian sounds like you have the green (maybe yellow...) light then! I will keep in touch to hear how this goes. Good luck! 

Hey @Brian Amirian hope all is well! 

That’s a good idea building it as an “attached unit” even though there isn’t actually anything on the adjacent lot to attach to. Does the rest of the neighborhood/block have attached buildings? That could be an issue if not. 

Is the whole combined lot currently RSA-3, and the triplex is just either a variance or grandfathered in? One thing the city might want to do is make the new spun off lot zoned RSA-3 and the lot with the existing building an RM zoning. If they do that then your theory of making the new building attached gets trickier. 

I haven’t dealt with the subdivision part, since most Philly lots I see are already too small to do anything with. 

Unfortunately, I think the best way to address this would be to review with a zoning attorney. I can give you a reference if you need one. The initial review would probably not be very expensive but very insightful. 

Hope this helps!

Thanks @Jimmy O'Connor! 

@Christian Roberts give me a call!

@Markus Powell several of my clients have used @Kevin M. and been very pleased. 

2 others to check out are @Yuriy Skripnichenko and RentWell. 

I currently use RentWell for my properties outside the city in Delco and have been very pleased. 

Best of luck! 

@John Baker we can't really specialize in everything, because then we would specialize in nothing... 

We specialize in managing the project, from the schedules, budgets, materials, scopes, quality assurance, etc. We basically represent you on the project to make sure your goals are being hit. 

@Michael Kalivas one of the best things I did when I started was just made offers. I wasn't entirely sure how I would pay for it, or exactly what I was going to do, but I had ideas and tools ready. When one of the offers was accepted I went to work on solving the problems  related to that specific deal, not the overwhelming task of getting myself to do something. Guess what, your first 10 offers probably won't get accepted, so get good at making them and accepting the rejection. Then eventually one will hit, and you will have to figure out how to actually close on it, which you will. Then you will have to figure out how to execute the exit, whether that includes renovation or not. Then you will start over and do it again. Before you know it you will have done a bunch of deals and forgotten what the big deal was at the beginning. 

My 3 year old daughter made me watch Frozen 2 with her and I actually got something from it. Anna says towards the end of the movie to "not look too far ahead and do the next right thing" which is exactly what it takes.