Pottstown, PA – Hire a PM, call it a wrap, or?

[Scott Seydor]

Title kind of says it all. My wife and I have three properties (8 units) in Pottstown, PA that really do pretty well for us… when they’re filled. We focused on Pottstown because it’s pretty much the most affordable town within ~30 minutes of where we live and has solid demand for rentals. It’s a working-class town that has been poised for a comeback for many years, but the buildings are old, and the renters are generally a problem. Up until this point, I self-manage and have been primarily focused on voucher-holding tenants. Stating the obvious, while rent gets direct deposited like clockwork, these folks come with their own set of issues. I had to clear out one of the triplexes at the end of last year due to tons of police/drug activity (was actually working with the police who set up a sting operation at this building) and spent last month getting the 3 units rent-ready. I really enjoy the renovation work but hate finding renters.

I’ve built up a small network of housing locators from various county agencies that I reach out to for voucher tenants, but the turnover with these folks seems to be pretty high and it takes a while to fill units this way. I’ve got another empty unit in another triplex that has been vacant since mid-November. Not getting anywhere with my housing locators, I advertised this one on Zillow and got 35-40 interested renters. Sifting through them to figure out who’s serious and worthy and then go out there to show them the units is my least favorite part of this endeavor. It sucks.

Like I mentioned though, the income is great when they’re filled and I feel like we’re crushing it. Real world examples of our 2024 net income after all expenses: duplex was $1049/mo, or $525/door, triplex-01 was $1052/mo, or $351/door, and triplex-02 was purchased in 03/2024, isn’t quite stabilized yet (still has a vacant unit), but should make $548/mo, or $183/door.

Now in 2025, half of my units are vacant (with a fifth moving out this month) and I’ve got no drive or desire to fill them. So, what can I change to make this work? Up my rental-filling skills? Leave it to someone else? Take our $550K of equity and call it a wrap? The only thing I do know is that we can’t keep doing what we're doing.