All Forum Posts by: Charles McCabe

Hey, @Ron Flatt, sorry for the delay; somehow I never saw a notification that you replied.  Compared to you I'm a Super Newb, so I say this with all due humility, but remember that those rules are very market-dependent.  For instance, I've run the numbers on a bunch of properties in central PA (I'm in urbanized southeastern PA) and 1% is a relative winner.

And I thought it might help to round out the conversation by mentioning that I put together a spreadsheet to do what the BP rental calculator does. The big difference is that in my sheet, each property is a single line, which makes it very easy to compare potential investments and run what-if scenarios (e.g. what if I had to amortize over 20 years at 6% vs 25 years at 5%) and I can quickly do it for entire portfolios of properties. And each line gives a color-coded go/no-go on key indicators (CoCR, DSCR, % Rule, etc.), so I can easily get a birds-eye view of all the properties I've analyzed (328 to date) and get rudimentary market intelligence (e.g. average $/sf in the 19401 ZIP code, with or without rehab). Sorry if that was too techy, but I've been an IT guy for 25 years and it kind of comes with the territory ; >

I saw in your profile that you've bought some notes.  I'd love to pick your brain about that.  All the math makes sense, but I don't feel like I have a good feel for the day-to-day, hands-on mechanics of it.

Physically in those cities, no, but Rich Heller is well regarded and if he can't serve your needs directly, I'm sure he knows someone who can. https://www.parealestatelawyer.com/  I was little quick on the trigger there.  That was the lawyer answer.  For a buyer's agent, talk to @Ray Peslar.  I'm closing on my 7th property with Ray today.

Excellent advice from @Ron Flatt.

Regarding the 1%/2% rules, in our area (these are MontCo and DelCo PA) I essentially don't even look at a deal that doesn't exceed 2%.  I'm calculating that as (monthly gross rents)/(all acquisition and rehab costs).  Here are the calculations for the 7 properties I've bought so far:

Thanks,

Chaz

@Steve Babiak Sorry for the lack of tag...the site seems to have issues with comments in Chrome on Android. My Spidey senses were tingling already for other reasons, but thank you very much for the link. I'll still be there, if only for the floor show.

@Ryan Hoer Honestly, the setup is a little peculiar...there are two events in the same location at almost the same time, advertised by the same organizer.  One of them had a $10 fee, the other didn't.  But as far as I know, that's all that's required.

This is the other one: https://www.meetup.com/realestate-1590/events/245854694/

@Ryan Hoer and @Keith W., et al.  Let me know when you want to get together.  I have another triplex in Norristown under contract now and it promises to be a fun ride.

I know it's short notice, but I'll be here tomorrow night:  https://www.meetup.com/Norristown-Investors-Revitalization-Alliance/events/245558894/

Try @Ray Peslar.  He's been with me for 12 units now, right Ray?

@Tom Gimer And that would save some money?  Because you'd only pay the "base price" for the title policy once, instead of once for each property?

@Mark Dante Yup, I'm aware.  I was just commenting on "It appears that in Pennsylvania there is a minimum cost for title insurance. For example, I looked at a portfolio of rehab properties with an average price of $15K each. Title insurance looks to be about $550 for each property. If I purchase 10 of these houses, I'm looking at $5500 in title insurance on houses which I hope to only have for a year.?" 

@Dave Van Horn Just say when.