All Forum Posts by: Jon Lafferty

Hi and welcome @Donald P. to BP. There is a wealth of information here. Make sure you look into our SJREIA as well for some great local networking with real estate investors.

I've never heard anyone at our local SJREIA say anything bad about Michael Greenblatt. He is located in Cherry Hill NJ.

Although I haven't done so, I hear local investors also like his lease for NJ landlords.

@Gerald Gatyas absolutely! I love talking about real estate, especially people interested in my farm area or Southern NJ in general. Send me an IM.

I've been using erentpayment.com for a few months and so far it has been great. I find their online system to be intuitive and it offers enough functionality that I can do what I need. I find tenants like being able to schedule payments ahead of time as well as pay with CC as needed. There are also some nice rudimentary reporting options.

It's outside of my farm area so I don't know the particulars but if the numbers work it isn't a war zone by any means. I would imagine you would get a mix of folks working locally, in AC and of course Philly.

It’s probably not a good sign that I had to go to page 14 to find my latest update on this project from 3/5/2015!

Newbies take note and learn from my mistakes. This rehab has proved to be a slow and painful process from start to finish. Why? Because I knew I was the anomaly, I knew I was unique and could save boatloads of money by working this project from start to finish. Let’s examine some of the finer details.

Deal closed: 11/2014

Begun demo: 1/2015

Begun rehab with trades: 2/2015

Gas was turned on: 3/2015 FINALLY

First contractor disappeared: 3/2015

Lead abatement on another unit: 3/2015

Eviction on another unit: 3/2015

Playing games with contractor who disappeared: 5/2015

So from June of 2015 I have been working this project on my own. I was so frustrated not to mention running low on funds so I put my nose to the grindstone and worked, worked, worked.

THIS WAS NOT SMART!

I should have at that point found my 3rd contractor / handyman to complete the solid months’ work but I didn’t.

As of 8/2015 the unit is complete and the tenant selection process has begun.

What have I learned?

• -It costs much more to not hire a professional
• -When contractors disappear pick up the pieces and hire another or even better have one in the pipe line waiting
• -Focus on management of the units / tenants rather than rehabbing units, tenants and the day job.
• -Have plenty of cash at your disposal for the bad things that WILL happen

Without further ado after 8 months here are the final results:

@Michael Noto this flip is looking phenomenal and I've really enjoyed going through your updates. Your diary reads like some fundamental reading for new investors / rehabbers.

Good luck on this listing, I'm sure the offers will be coming in soon.

Hi @Ellis Paul, I have lived in Millville and I work in Bridgeton. In my opinion these are great rental markets. I do believe they are the type of market you want to be fairly local to if investing in the area. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Good luck

@Joshua White having an exit strategy is always a good idea however in some markets that can prove challenging. Penns Grove may be one of those markets. Do a search for comps in the area and you will see that it isn't exactly a hot bead of activity. I would imagine that most of the home sales are offline between investors. If you'd like lets meet for a coffee and discuss the finer points of the deep southern NJ towns 

I own 4 homes in the PennsGrove, Carneys point market. The area doesn't have much crime to speak of however it is definitely on the low income side of the fence. This is not an equity play market although it can be profitable from a cash flow perspective. Much of this area is section8 which can be great and not so great. I would also advise that to really be successful in this area one should be local. Good luck and keep looking.