New Kid on the Block Philadelphia burbs

[Dylan Bensinger]

Hi BP community!! I recently joined the community to learn more about landlording and property management as I am currently under contract for a duplex that I plan to 'house hack' in. Fingers crossed I can get everything to go through to settlement and a few weeks from now I will be getting some great On the Job Training. 

A little about myself: I'm from Lancaster county, received a bachelors in business from Shippensburg University (I miss those low rents!) and now I live in Delaware county where I currently rent and hope to soon have the duplex. My dad bought his first and only investment property when I was a Junior in high school and I helped him fix it up. It was our next door neighbors property who was in bad health so not much thought went into location or cap rates or anything like that. It was 2 houses on 1 lot;  a 3/1.5 2 story 1920s balloon framed house and a garage converted into a  2/1 rancher. It helped me work on construction skills and sparked my interest in the business. 

Fast forward to now, I've been looking for a multi family in the area for about a year. The property is a 1940s 2 story converted into an over/under duplex. Upstairs is a 1/1 and the downstairs is a 1/1 with a den that could be converted into another bedroom. We plan on living in the first floor and doing some updating and light reno work. When we are ready to move on we want to make it a 2 BR and rent out both sides. 

I'm very excited to join the community! I would love any advice on local Philly or better yet Delco real estate clubs as if this goes well I would like to do it again!!

I have a few tough situations I'm facing already with inheriting a tenant, but I will get into those details in another post!

Thanks,