New BP-er in Philadelphia, PA: Buying & Holding

[Andrew Inglis]

Hi BP community. My name is Andrew and I'm in the Philadelphia area. I came to the site through the podcasts which I've been listening to so much over the past three weeks that I dropped a high pitch "Quuuick tip" at work before realizing no one would know what I was doing.

My real estate background: I bought a house in college which I lived in with roommates and then converted to a full rental unit when I moved to Philly. I've always rented out rooms in whatever house I've lived in because I'm addicted to the cash flow, but I recently got married so the roommates had to go. All in this has summed up to about 12 years experience owning and land-lording . . . really as an afterthought as I got my full time corporate career going.

I'm currently in the process of selling my primary residence as well as my rental unit in Virginia, and it's made me realize that I love this business and want to devote more mindshare to it.

My goal is to buy and hold in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, generating some cash flow. Right now I'm thinking single family homes but I'm intrigued by college multi-family rentals. Once I've found a way to build a significant portfolio, the dream is to retire early-ish and devote myself to this pursuit full time and perhaps make some more aggressive moves like flipping down the line.

My near term goal is to get a deal on a house in, or close to, Center City, that provides me and the wife a place to live for a couple years, the opportunity to fix up, and eventually either convert to a rental or sell (long term flip). Soon after my primary residence purchase this year, I'd like to get my feet wet with a single family buy and hold rental as well.

This web-site and the information I've received through all it's resources has been awesome . . . I'm looking forward to taking a more active role and meeting some great like-minded people.

Thanks!

Andrew