All Forum Posts by: Drew Palmer

Good luck Troy.  I love your Argo site, looks great.  Is there a way I can "follow" your updates with an RSS feed or something so it pushes out to me?  I just closed last week on a duplex in Point Breeze/Newbold and we start renovation in the spring.  Good luck to us both - we may need it :) 

Troy, was thinking of you and Brewerytown recently. Read an article that got me really jazzed up about Philly. Apparently this bullet train they are working on in CA, if it's successful, would come to the NE corridor next. Experts all agree that the biggest beneficiary would be Philly since housing prices are so low relative to NYC, DC, etc. Could mean folks could get to NYC in like 40 mins. Huge upside for areas close to 30th st i imagine like brewerytown, etc.

Thanks guys, it's always helpful to get another set of eyes. You are right - it's right on the very southern end of P Breeze. It's kind of a no mans land between Girard Estates and PBreeze. I'm not a huge believer in appreciation and am more cash flow oriented so I may dig into this one a bit more. Funny enough one of the four tenants is a cat breeder (in the apartment :) though he has been a tenant for 5 years and is in his 70s and may be there for a good while.

(Oops, meant to say, not using HIS time)

Another very helpful response, thank you. (No, I am not using this time or services at all. I will have an attorney do all the closing stuff, etc. Good idea on paying him by the project for stuff he can find off MLS like comps).

Great answer. I only use this guys services too (when he's involved) and maybe that's the point to stress - loyalty.

For those Philly folks out there, I was curious what people thought of the 1800 block of W. Passyunk?

In my mind, the pros are its 4 blocks from subway, a straight bus trip to center city, walk-able to E. Passyunk, near Girard Estates, etc.

The possible cons are Point Breeze proximity and not "quite" close enough to Broad St.

Anyone have opinions on the long term view on this area of the city? (I am looking at a quad in that area)

I am a buy/hold investor and was curious what people's take is on this.

I use a broker to find MLS related deals. He is a new broker and very hungry and willing to walk me into as many doors as I want. I trust him a lot and want to keep working with him. In addition to MLS deals I do my own direct marketing. Of course I market the fact that we can do the deal without broker's commissions as this helps the deal get done.

For deals that I source on my own, which takes a ton of work, I feel like I should not get my broker involved. That 3% can make a meaningful diff to the seller. However, I don't know what the standard is. I don't want to do anything to hurt the trust I've built up with this broker.

What is the "standard" for this type of situation?

If you want experience with multis, Frank Lauletta at Lauletta Birnbaum. He owns lots of units in the city himself and thinks like an investor. Reference my name if you call him.

Hi Darryl - I think it depends on your strategy. My strat is buy hold with a mix of cash flow and appreciation. I live in the city and like s philly along the broad st subway. In the burbs which i dont know as well i like stuff near route 202 as i think thats where the job growth is and there are good sch districts. For ex Royersford. I think the philly economy overall has moderate growth so if you want appreciation you need to find places that are stealing market share (ie people) from other areas.