All Forum Posts by: Petur Karlsson

Hello, Luis! I am also a new investor (first property acquisitioned in February of this year), living and investing in Bucks county! I hope to see you in Seth's local RE meetup that's happening later this month.

Oof. Listen to a Bigger Pockets Money podcast or ten, build your net worth by budgeting, whittling away personal debt and putting as much as you can aside, secure a HELOC against your primary residence if you have one and perhaps look for private lenders to finance your acquisitions alongside whatever bank financing you have available.

I'm just a beginner with one property under rehab but having the project body slammed by COVID19 for two, almost three months, really showcased the value of NOT over leveraging and having enough liquid funds to sustain the holding costs for longer than expected. Play it safe, don't risk the shirt off your back.

This is very exciting! I'm happy to see that you took the initiative for locals and are hosting this event, Seth. 

I will attend if circumstances allow for it and will invite a friend as well. Looking forward to meeting you (and hope to see this become a regular thing)!

Definitely no shortage of awesome people in this county! Once we start seeing the end of the Covid-19 outbreak I might have finished my deal, started another one and will by that point have summoned the confidence and credentials to host a meetup myself, or in partnership with some of you. I'm saying this now so that you hold me accountable in several months!

There's one in Doylestown? Charles Crossan, could you provide me with information on it?

Looks like we are all relative beginners, I'm currently rehabbing my first BRRRR property in Sellersville, Bucks county, have two and a half years experience with value stock investing, business studies via college, a couple hundred Bigger Pockets podcasts and a dozen or so real estate / business books under my belt.

Maybe it's a good idea if we set up a beginner friendly Bucks county real estate meetup, ourselves! Please let me know if you become aware of any other gatherings in the area, as I would love to join and link up with you guys.

Congratulations! I would say this is a nice success considering the current state of the economy and the fact that its your very first deal. I'm in the same shoes with potentially not taking all the money back out during cash out refi, but it will beat a 20% down payment on a turnkey property by far! 

My property will very likely produce a small positive cash flow in the tune of $150 after all expenses including management (despite planning to self manage), but my primary focus is on mortgage pay down, tax deductions and appreciation for the long term, so I can either refinance or 1031 exchange it one day in the distant future.

I am in the beginning stage (demo part of the rehab) of my first BRRRR investment! Like you, I am using a HELOC on my primary resident (as well as private lending from family through their HELOC) to fund the acquisition and rehab of the property.

I bought it for $126k, budget is maxed at $60k, including a buffer (my contractor who has worked many flips in Philly and experienced RE investor friends believe I will be successful in staying under budget). The property needs a decent amount of cosmetic work and I'm converting an attic into a master bedroom master bath for a total of 4 bed 2 baths. Conservatively, I look to have the property appraised for $200k+ and will walk away very happy with $1,600 in  monthly rent.

Thank you so much for the input, everybody! How incredible is it that I can pose my questions on the BP forums and get such fantastic knowledgeable replies from experienced investors! Words can't express my gratitude to you guys.

After preliminary research, I can tell that a number of the homes in the town where I have my rental don't have HVAC and largely seem to be boiler heated, which doesn't come as a major surprise, given that A LOT of them are built early last century and aren't very conducive to HVAC by design.

Judging from the dialogue here and further reflections with my principal contractor, I think we are sticking to our initial plan of boiler/insulation/ceiling fan combo, but once we've demoed everything that needs to go anyway (some ceilings and walls) and created a much more operable working space at the same time for installations, we are going to bring in professionals to get free quotes on HVAC and mini split systems, if anything, for future reference and negotiation fodder on the next property purchases. It can't hurt to get the quotes if they are free anyways!

Thanks again for chipping into the discussion, everybody. I also hope this helped other investors with similar questions in mind.

I closed on my first rental property in Bucks county, PA last month (woot woot!!) It's one of twin units in a brick house, three stories high including an attic which we will be converting into a master bed and bath to turn the apartment from a 3 bed 1 bath into a 4 bed 2 bath with 300 some added square feet of livable space. The property was built in 1910 and the last occupant was fourth generation of the same family that constructed it originally! 

All around the house is radiator heating with a gas powered boiler in the basement on an elevated concrete slab. The boiler looks in good condition (although possibly  somewhat old) and heating is near instant with all radiators functioning properly, the radiators look relatively new. I will have someone take a look at the boiler soon to give me clues about it's age and condition but if it's looking promising, it feels crazy to not make use of it while saving on the budget.

We have to tear up the ceiling on the first floor before installing drywall as well as opening up walls to feed plumbing and new wiring for outlets, light fixtures, switches, etc.. We are planning to put in ceiling fans in each bedroom and the living room, as well as insulating the roof a little bit because the crumbling plaster has got to go and make way for drywall anyway. Some windows need replacement as well and will have an improved thermal rating than the ones from god knows when in the last century.

Due to the renovations opening up space to make an HVAC installation more seamless, I have the possibility of taking that approach if the boiler is likely to crap out within the next several years. 

Would you, my amazing Bigger Pockets community, deem HVAC to be an option worth exploring vs. the boiler / ceiling fan & insulation combo IF THE BOILER NEEDS REPLACEMENT? Naturally I'm looking for the highest possible ARV and rent but I'd be saving massive bucks if I can just stick to what's in there with the added ceiling fans providing air conditioning, and I fear that installing HVAC would not provide a sufficient amount of value-add vs. the cost savings of not having it installed. Note, this is south-east Pennsylvania so the summers can get hot and humid in my opinion as an Icelander but nothing like the more southern US states.

I'm willing to explore all options and am literally at the beginning of my RE investing career, any and all help and comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance, you guys.

Thanks for cracking me up!

Just closed on my first property two days ago and have 4 months of rehab before even getting a tenant in so I have yet to experience the drama.... Looking forward to it though!

OMG Drengur. Datt i hug að skrifa Iceland í search og þetta kom mjög skemmtilega á óvart!

Ég bý sjálfur í Bucks county í Pennsylvaníu, er kominn með græna kortið og í ferli að verða ríkisborgari. Ég á núna 10 mánaða gamalt barn með bandarískri eiginkonu minni og var að festa kaup á leiguíbúð þann 17. febrúar í 30 mínútna akstursfjarlægðð frá mér! Nú blasa við fjórir til fimm mánuðir af viðgerðum svo ég get fengið leigjanda og endurfjármagnað íbúðina. 

Hvernig vegnar þér með fasteignadrauminn? Ertu búinn að ná eignarhaldi á leiguhúsnæði? Ég er gríðarlega forvitinn að sjá hvernig BRRRR ferlið virkar á Íslandi og hlakka til að verða fasteignafjárfestir í heimalandinu. Gangi þér sem allra best!