All Forum Posts by: Elesha S.

Good discussion of the law and issues there.   Thanks for sharing such a great link!  

Keep in mind that landlord tenant law in PA may spin out a little different in Philly county. The law is the same, the judges and parties are not.  Philly landlord tenant court is certainly a unique version of small claims court. :-)  I was a mediator there during and after law school.

First this is not legal advice - just my required disclaimer.  But my suggestion to you is that although the law allows certain remedies for you, the practical solution might be different.  In a normal situation where the unit is fully habitable and everything is working, it is true that the landlord could put the tenant on the hook for the remainder of the lease -- subject, of course, to the landlords diligent efforts to mitigate damages (i.e. lease the unit to someone else).

However, there is obviously some question here about a) whether the heat works and b) who has the responsibility to pay for it.  In cases of loss of heat, my opinion (from watching lots of cases) is that judges in housing court here are not forgiving of landlords who do not provide working heat for tenants regardless of the cause.  Her not signing up for an account (if that was required in the lease) is another issue since there is a question of whether even if she had the account her radiator/whatever equipment may not be working. 

In either case it doesn't much matter.  Practically speaking, because of the other possible breaches going on with this tenant, it would be better to take her up on her offer to move, keep last month's rent if you have it, check for damages and return the remainder of the security deposit if any, and just move on.  The reality is that even if you spend your time and money to get a judgment (supposing you win, of course) you will likely never see any money.

In addition to having a buy out/early termination clause (which was your initial question) in your new lease, we also have a clause in our lease that states if the tenant is unable to get service from PECO/PGW/etc. at the outset of the lease, then the entire lease is cancelled and tenant has to find a new place.  Then after you lease, follow up with appropriate utility to be sure that the tenant has moved service into his/her own name.  I say this because my suspicion is that even if she wanted to get a PGW account, she may not be eligible if she has back bills etc.

See this as a blessing in disguise.  If she does have that many folks and pets living on the property, letting her and her accompanying drama go at her request is basically the definition of the perfect situation.  It allows you to really get in the unit, clean it up, get a better lease, and your own tenant that you screened yourself.  

Yes both are in UD (highland park specifically) for the time being. And yes the taxes are pretty high compared to let's say Philly. But even with taxes at 400 per month our SFR is cash flowing to the tune of 550 per month. For our first go around, we were happy with that given that it cost us about 20k to get into that place. It was well maintained by the original owners and the kitchen and baths were upgraded prior to selling. So we didn't do much to make it rentable. We were just in the right place at the right time. Our tenants (young professionals like us) are great so that helps too. And because we also live in the neighborhood, I also feel great about the intangible benefits of knowing the neighbors, bringing value to the neighborhood etc. (That's really important to me as well and I hope to be able to carry that forward when we branch out which is why we want to stay local.) But from a pure profit perspective, I don't see us doing too much more here unless a killer deal comes along.

Thank you everyone for your welcome!

I will be sure to check out all the resources and contribute where I can!

Part of the challenge now is just pulling the trigger.  We have a few neighborhoods that we target but we're patient enough (and busy enough with other stuff), that we can wait for the right deal to come along.  I'm actually intrigued with the possibility of buying a property at the Philadelphia tax sales.  It would be a challenging and interesting project, I'm sure.  I understand the ins and outs of the procedure (from work), but we haven't yet purchased a property.  I'd be interested in speaking with someone who have.  It's the same folks, generally, that are in attendance at all the sales--maybe they are on BP too!

Anyway, thanks for all the insight, and I will see you all around!  And for those nearby Philly/Delco, I'd always be glad to chat in person over a coffee too!

Also, I'd be curious to know how it works out for you, so please update us at some point!  Good luck!

Keep in mind that the street views can be years old.  I think some of the Philly streets are from 2011 and 2012 so we are approaching the 2 and 3 year mark on those views.

Hi Everyone--

I have been lurking here for some time and decided that if I'm going to participate I should at least introduce myself.

My husband and I live in Upper Darby, just a mile outside of Philadelphia.  For our day jobs, I am a tax attorney and he is an IT consultant (specifically Oracle business intelligence products).

Although I just discovered BP about two months ago, we have been investing/landlording for about two years -- a SFR and an apartment on the first floor of our house. Our hope is to expand our passive income so that we can "retire" at 35 and do fun, less stressful things for money.

I'm/We're relatively new so I don't anticipate having much to add to brilliance that I've discovered on BP, but hopefully time will change that!  I certainly appreciate the wisdom I've gotten so far just browsing the forums.

Elesha

My husband and I live just outside of Philly and spent a decade in West Philly.  Since we were at Drexel over the last decade, there has been substantial improvement in some of the neighborhoods there on account of Penn and Drexel.  Unfortunately, in terms of southward movement my feeling is that stops around Baltimore Ave, with the exception of the most eastern area around Clark Park.

Ruby street is in the heart of Kingsessing, so I doubt that that area will be improving because of University City push-out in the immediate near-term future.  That is probably optimistic on the part of the seller to believe that, but that's just my opinion.  But as to future possibilities--who knows?!  There are parts of West Philly that we would not walk 10 years ago that are now bustling with young professionals, families...

I would just echo that Philly is a very block by block city so even in an area that is not great, you could have a great buy on a great block with exceptional neighbors, even if the next block over is a total disaster.  That being said, the financials might still work and make it a good cash flowing property, accounting for the associated licensing and tax burdens (which you can easily find out about doing an internet search).

http://www.phila.gov/map - may also be a good resource for you.  sometimes there is helpful data on properties there such as vacancy permits, rental licenses (if applied for correctly), L&I violations, last 30 days crime reports, etc.  This may help give you some other insights to the property and neighborhood.

But in reality, nothing substitutes for your own eyes and sense about the property/block.