All Forum Posts by: Rich O'Neill

Welcome! I am here in Philly if you need any help here. Connect with @Ross Yeager about this area and OOS investing in general. Dude is killing it here in Philly from the left coast. 

Best of Luck! 

@Nancy Le being close to the property can be a benefit, but unless you are physically doing repairs, it's not 100% necessary. I held onto the management function too long because my units were close by and I thought I could manage better. That was a limiting belief. I think it is important to manage your own units for a little while to learn what managers do, and ultimately how to manage them, but it is a very low payoff activity and I think should be delegated fairly quickly if you want to grow. 

As for the market, like @Jhanel Wilson said- deals can be found in any market, it just gets a little harder. Anywhere that isn't a sellers market right now probably isn't somewhere you want to invest... The nationwide factors that are driving the market apply mostly across the board, and a slack market likely indicates a very large downward trend in that area caused by an outside factor you don't want to deal with. That is a VERY general statement and could be incorrect about some places but look very closely if something looks too good to be true - it probably is. 

@Jhanel Wilson beat me to it. I just refinanced most of my portfolio with them. Their underwriting is pretty strict, so make sure the property is clean and tenants are cooperative. They asked me for income verifications from my tenant's which any landlord knows is like pulling teeth. Outside of that, terms are great and my contact there was very good, though I am sure most are good. 

How many other contractors on here are paid members? Not many! That should show you how much they want your business...

Fleming Project Management started with only one customer in mind- real estate investors. The ABSOLUTE most important relationship to a value-add real estate investor is with their contractor. It is also the hardest to create. We set out to solve that issue.

We designed the business from the ground up to deliver the most value for our target client- residential real estate investors. Our business model actually DOESN’T work for retail clients! And we are happy about that! Several things make us different than the common contractor to make us the right choice for your investment:

Project Manager Vs. General Contractor:

Our role is to represent you on the project. We manage the relationships with the individual trades, create and push project schedules, create and execute scope of work, and keep you informed throughout the process. We align our goals with you instead of trying to eek out the most profit we can on a job.

The pricing model that works best for you:

Contractors generally charge in one of 3 ways: Quote, Time and Material, and Cost+. In a traditional Quote based pricing model, the GC would be trying to maximize the price they can charge you without you going to a competitor, and will almost certainly try to hit you with change orders as the job progresses. Their goal is to create ambiguity to allow room for this. Time and Material gets you closer to the actual “value” of the job, but does not incentivize the contractor to be efficient with either time or materials, and requires a lot of pushing from the owner to stay on schedule and on budget. We chose the Cost+ model to closer align our incentives on the job. Our fees are simply stated up front, which allows us to focus more on getting the job done right than playing the games. We understand that when you make money, you have more capital to invest in another project, which you will inevitably rehire us for, and continue the virtuous cycle.

On top of all of that, our bench of contractors is giving us (and therefore you) their best prices in order to keep receiving work from us. We firmly believe that these savings should pay for our fee and then some vs. subcontracting the work on your own, and you get an experienced project manager dedicated to your project which saves you valuable time. Think- economies of scale through shared resources.

For investors, by investors:

We started in this business building our own portfolio of rentals and flips. As investors ourselves, we know what is important to you, and how to execute to create the most value for you. We have learned a lot along the way and can hopefully save you from some of those lessons we learned the hard way. One example is our “Bulletproof Rental” checklist. Over the years, we have come across some minor tweaks to traditional repairs to greatly reduce maintenance and turnover costs. One example is the trap configuration under sinks. Rather than using the compression fittings most contractors use, we plumb in solid schedule 40 PVC with a cleanout built in to eliminate broken traps, which leads to leaks, destroyed flooring and drywall damage.

At the end of the day, we are very different than your standard contractor, but that’s the point. We are here to create value for you to help you reach your version of financial independence, and achieve whatever your goals in life are.

We operate in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties. Some areas we have experience with include Lansdowne, Upper Darby, Springfield, Broomall, Collingdale, Ridley, Crum Lynn, Pottstown, Coatesville, Norristown, Royersford, Downingtown, Kennett Square, West Chester, Conshohocken, Glenolden, Drexel Hill, Clifton Heights, Newtown Square, Malvern, Avondale, Toughkenamon, and many more.

Ahhhhhh that makes sense. Thats frustrating. Best of luck to you! 

Hey @Sean Parno, I invest in and around (mostly around) Philadelphia. @Timothy Wong is absolutely right, especially right now. I haven't bought a deal off the MLS in over 2.5 years for that reason. All of my deals come from wholesalers.

Google "We Buy Houses (Area you want)" and see what comes up. Most of those sites have a place to register as a cash buyer. 

Go on Facebook and look for "Off Market Deals" groups. Wholesalers crawl all over those things. They ask you to "drop your email". Do it, even if you don't want that specific deal. They will put you on their list and send you deals. 

Any time you see a bandit sign, call it. Ask them if they are wholesaling, and if so, to add you to their buyer list. 

Think like a wholesaler. How would they be marketing to sellers? Find that marketing and call it as if you are a seller, then ask to be put on their list. 

You will get a TON of emails, and most of them are junk, but it is worth it. I have set up filters to send all wholesaler emails to a folder on my email so it doesn't clutter my inbox with other important stuff. I make a point to review that folder daily. 

As far as Metrics: I shoot for $200/month/door with 100% financing. CoC return is kind of irrelevant for me because I try to BRRRR all of my cash out. So technically I shoot for an infinite CoC, but that can be dissected way more than that simple analysis.

At the end of the day, you need to figure out those numbers for yourself based on your goals. If you have a nice income and you are just looking to park money, you might be happy with a 10% CoC because that is likely to beat the stock market in the long term (not recently, thats a different story). If you are looking to earn money actively, your numbers will likely be much different. 

Best of luck! Let me know if I can help at all! 

@Eric Greenberg Gotta love L&I... I don't have experience with this particular situation but I know that their appeals process is a nightmare, so maybe if you appeal the fine it will drag out for a while and you can ultimately get them to grandfather it. Did you recently install it, or was it there when you bought?

@Chu L. Sorry to hear it didn't work out with EXP. I know we spoke a few months back when you were looking initially and I mentioned my office Vanguard Realty in West Chester. That night be a good arrangement since it is not a big firm. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help! 

@Jennifer T. if it’s not already too late, could you find out if they are open to cash for keys before you sign the purchase agreement? 

@Kevin Urban We are usually paying about $400-600 for a R&R sidewalk pad, which is roughly 4x4. Obviously some scale in doing a driveway vs. a single sidewalk pad, but those are pretty good numbers considering everything going on.