All Forum Posts by: Paulette Midgette

@Sean Thompson I am not sure if you are interested in investing in homes that are currently Section 8 approved or you are planning to purchase homes and then put them into the Section 8 system.  In either case you are required to take a Section 8 landlord course as your first step if you property is not Section 8 approved.  Once you have completed this course you can then start the process to getting your residence inspected, qualified, and place into the PHA database.  When it comes to purchasing a home with Section 8 tenants in place, I have no experience here so I can't say how the process works.  However, I would think that once you have completed the landlord course, your information would be transferred to PHA's database, without the need for another home inspection.  Hopefully, another BP'er with direct experience in purchasing Section  8 will provide you with specifics.

Welcome to BP @Michael Badin!  You and I are neighbors, well sort of.  I live in East Mt. Airy, a few blocks from the Cedarbrook Plaza, which is a hop, skip, and a jump from Glenside. 

@John Matthews, be aware that this is a "lead safe" not lead free certification. A property can be lead safe even if lead based paint is present in the property.  If the paint film is sound (not cracks, holes in the wall, peeling paint) and the unit is free of lead dust, the odds are you will pass a lead dust test. 

Hi @Parth Shah  The link that @Kurt Kwart sent covers the neighborhoods within close proximity to  Center City.  This adds up to about 22 neighborhoods and the majority of them will be out of your stated price range.  Philadelphia has somewhere around 160- 170 (depending on the stats to review) neighborhoods.  As stated, many people will list their preferred investment area.  But not all of us.  Something I like to keep in mind, with 170 neighborhoods, the 22 listed aren't the only A/B neighborhoods.  In my opinion there are number of neighborhoods in the city that are overlooked by investors.  Either because they are too far outside of the city center or investors aren't familiar enough with the area, or they have heard negative things about the area or have had negative past experiences and haven't come back to take a look at the current state.  Germantown is one such area.  Be sure to add this one to the list.

Hi @Craig C. please see the link below for information on how and where to file small claims.  Note that the municipal court  that hears small claims is not the same court that hears tenant/landlord matters.  You will need to serve your former tenants.  If you have their address this can be done by mail.  If you can't locate them, then you can't fill a case with the small claims court.

http://courts.phila.gov/pdf/brochures/mc/SMALL-CLAIMS-PAMPHLET.pdf

Hi @Laura Pruitt

Let me piggyback on Troy's comments and echo caution whenever estimating your rehab costs.  What worries me most is the mold issue.  Is it black mold?  Have you had a mold remediation specialist take a look at this?  I rehabbed a house in the past that had black mold in the master bath and only in the master bath.  It was a small area in the shower stall.  The cost to bring in a remediation contractor, to test to determine type of mold and extent of growth, remove mold, treat area, and retest cost me about $8,000 dollars. If you have a significant amount of mold this could be a huge chuck out of that $80,000 estimate.

I live in Mt. Airy as well, and recently have been doing some normal maintenance/replaces on my home such as brick pointing, new wrought iron railings, new steps and patio.  I image the home you are looking at rehabbing is similar in size to mine and it a row home.  The cost to brick point just the front of my home was $1600.  The  new steps were $1600.  The cost for the wrought iron, simple no frills, $800. New garage door, $1500 and my new patio came in at $1200 (I got a discount because I was doing the steps at the same time).  I am sitting somewhere around $7000 and I haven't touched the brick pointing in the back of my house or the lawn.  Your $80,000 estimate seems a little tight to me as well.  Especially if you are planning to finish the basement which is pretty much a must in order to be competitive in the area these days. 

I just want to give some ideas of actual costs. 

Please feel to inbox me if you have any additional questions about service costs on homes in Mt. Airy.

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@Phil Sabella and welcome!  As @Peter Dunnestated there are many ways to find properties in Philly, MLS, contacts from friends, real estate agents, sheriff sales, etc. My advise, use all resources at your disposal to find your deal.

I would like to suggest that you keep your search in Philly close to home.  Being a few minutes drive outside of East Mt. Airy, Cedarbrook, and Oak Lane you can keep your properties close if you plan to manage them yourself.  There are many multifamily units in these areas.  However, great deals are hard to come by here and when they come up they don't stay on the market long.  With said there are still some good deals to be found.

I have experience with 1031s.  It is a way to defer your capital gains tax on a home sale.  You have to set it up with a 1031 Exchange Agent (there is a fee, of course) and you have 180 days to find a new property.  One other thing to keep in mind the purchase of the new home must be the same type as the one you sold.  For example, if you sold a single family home, you must purchase another single family home you can't purchase an apartment building.  If you have any specific questions I will be happy to answer them.

@David Ziccardi,

I am interested in learning more.  Once you have more information you can share I can better assess the opportunity.  Also, is the owner set on selling all 200 at once or will he sell in blocks?

@Brandon Cao, @Shree Pathak, and @Cheryl Daniels it takes the city some time to get around to inspecting all rental properties on their list.  As Brandon said, they don't have enough staff to expect every property each year, so the inspections are on a cyclic schedule.  Please know that eventually they will come knocking at your rental.  My previous rental seemed to be on a 2 year cycle and was inspected about every couple of years to the date. 

You are not allowed to collect rent without the proper licenses.  Now, this usually does not come into play until you have a landlord tenant issue and you need to take your tenant to court.  However, if it were determined that you collected rent at any time during a period of time you were not licensed the judge could order you to give the tenant the money back or fine you. 

Also, a savvy tenant who understands what is needed to rent and what you need to provide to them before collection of rent could call L&I and report you if you have not done everything by the letter.  Bottom line,  make sure your house in order before you start collecting rent.