First multi family

[Stephanie Cortez]

Hello! I am feeling really anxious concerning a potential buy and want to know if I am making a good decision. I am closing on a duplex in booming West Philly which has a bonus unit in the basement. I could potentially be making 3600 in rents from three units. The mortgage would be 2200. I am using a HELOC for the down payment of about 28k and the house is being sold for 325k. Essentially whatever profit I make will go to paying off my HELOC. I explained this to my father who thinks I should walk away from this deal and find a fixer upper. He would prefer I buy low with cash, pull money from it to rehab it, then sell it it for a higher price. I know that will be a long process but maybe smart as well. Can I do both although I do not have much cash left? Thoughts/ideas??

[Eric Greenberg]

I first would check the zoning on the property (https://atlas.phila.gov/). Make sure that it’s actually zoned for/has a variance for multiple units. That will also tell you if you could legally have a 3rd unit. There are a large number of multis in Philly that are illegal and therefore you could be fined & would have even less rights as a landlord, ie evection/etc.