All Forum Posts by: Randy Donatelli

Alex welcome, and good for you.   I think you have the concept and once you can put it into play, it starts to make sense, let others pay your way.  Think about what your short term and long term goals are and start to build your life around that.  Getting started is the hardest part, best of luck!

Welcome to bp, your story sounds a lot like me.  What you got was called an expensive lesson.  I wanted to buy a duplex for our first house and she didn't want to have anything to do with that. I did finally however convince her to buy our first rental about 5 years later even after having our first child and believe it or not she is the one who found the house.  So I will tell you things can change.  We can chat, and If I can help in any way let me know.

Welcome to the community, it is amazing to see how many people from the Pittsburgh are involved in bp and can help you on your journey.

Outdoor living, laundry if you dont have already which by the sounds of the house you do. You may want to look into technology as well like new smart devices such as thermostat, lights and so on. I look to upgrade at least one thing in my rentals every year to not only keep them up to date but also create the highest demand and rent in my area.

Laminate,  lasts longer is more durable as well as higher demand for consumers.

I am actually right up the road from Rochester, PA and it is an area in which I have considered investing because of the cost of housing there, believe it or not 11% cap is OK I would actually expect a little higher for the areas in which you talked about. What I will tell you is about all of those areas as well I would want to see where it is and see the house before purchase. In all of those areas and you can buy a house for $6k and you can also buy a house there for $150kk, hope that helps.

So let me start by saying I have been a member for a little while but haven't gotten a chance to become engaged in the forums. So i feel as if i should introduce myself properly, my name is Randy Donatelli and I am in a little town north of Pittsburgh, PA. I bought my first SFH as a rental last summer and it was great, I found it when i was going for a walk in my neighborhood. I looked at it the next day and offered 10k less than the asking price and bought it at that. I had $700 in repairs and about 80 man hours in cleaning, I had so much interest in the property that I took the listing off of cl and took the sign down in the door. Needless to say it was rented in about a week and I just signed a new 1 year agreement with the same tenant.

I drive a lot for work, and over the winter I got tired of listening to the radio so I decided to listen to some podcasts mainly about real estate.  Insert bigger pockets to my life, wow i could not believe the information that you get for free.  I was instantly hooked listening to an episode or two every day.  I absolutely love to hear everyone's story and it has given me so much information and just reassures me that I am on the right path.  So from listening to BP I broadened my search range, bought a duplex a town away using owner financing, refinanced my house to get a line of credit that I just used to buy my first total rehab.

So really BP has helped me buy my last 2 properties and really gotten me excited about real estate and i just want to give an official thank you to Josh and Brandon and all of the members for their stories.

Believe it or not but I found my first property when my wife and I were on a walk in our local community, then we contacted a realtor and bought it the next day.  We purchased our second property via craigslist, and our third was for sale by owner.  You have to keep your eyes open and look for the right deal, check the mls, and craigslist daily I also have realtors send me listings as well as trulia so I know what is going on in my market.  My advice is to be patient don't feel like you have to buy right now and the deal will come when you least expect it.