All Forum Posts by: Jim Stevenson

Hey @Kyle Lauriano, I'm a realtor based in Doylestown. I wish it were easy to find some deals around D-town! If you ever need anything at all, don't hesitate to give me a shout.

@Account Closed Thanks, Dani. Not exactly sure when this was built but it looks to be 1900's or 1910's. If I end up with the property I think I'll compare price between refinishing and painting. It would look much nicer to refinish and if there isn't much of a price difference I think I'll go that route. Just not sure if it can be with the amount of paint already on it and the condition that it's in...

Thanks @Chris K. Yes in Luzerne County right across the river from Wilkes-Barre. I've looked at several cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. I went to college in Williamsport and am considering that area as well. Kingston seems to have a happy medium of lower crime and decent schools compared to the actual cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. I think it would be a safer play by staying on the outskirts especially for my first investment.

I've been looking at Kingston, PA as a possible rental market. In trying to determine rents I checked out the rental ads on Craigslist. There's 107 ads just for Kingston (population of 13k). I thought this seemed rather high for a smaller town so I looked at the number of units available in Philadelphia (population of 1.5M) which is only 42.

Does this mean that Kingston is probably oversaturated with available rentals and I should steer clear from the area? It seems like supply is high and demand is low.

Great job @Matt Jones! I know this is an old thread but how did you finance the rehab costs? I'm looking at a 4-plex right now with value add potential.

Either brown or black. It would look something like this:

I'm looking at a property with hardwood floors. Some are painted, some are not. I would purchase this property as a rental. What are your thoughts on painting the floors with a semi-gloss/glossy paint vs refinishing? Either way I imagine I would have to re-paint/refinish but painting would be less expensive. Keep in mind this is in a C+/B- neighborhood.

I went to look at a 4-unit in a market I'm not totally familiar with. I don't have an agent in the area so the listing agent took me through the property. As I was asking him questions, I found that he wasn't really giving me straightforward answers or he just didn't know enough information about the property. The property is in decent shape and the numbers would work but I still feel like I need more information such as why the owner is selling. 

I have the owner's name from the property disclosure statement. What is the protocol on bypassing the listing agent and reaching out directly to the seller? The property has been on the market for about two months and just recently dropped in price. I figure the seller would be happy if a potential buyer reached out with interest but I don't want to step over any boundaries.

Congrats Bryan Templin what do the numbers look like for this one?

Curious to hear other's thoughts on saving for college through a 529. I've started contributing ever since my son was born 5 months ago but I hate the fact that it can only be used for education. I feel like there's the strong possibility of being stuck with a large chunk of change that I can't even use (if I don't want to pay the withdraw penalty) if my son decides to forgo college. I just read the BP post today about 529s which struck my interest in this. What alternatives are you using?