All Forum Posts by: Elise Bickel Tauber

I use to use Buildium when I managed under 200 doors. They were fine but I had a lot of hiccups. I've been using appfolio since 2015 and I really like them. They've done a whole of improvements lately and it's great. Honestly, no software does it all. Someone needs to make a solution that incorporates everything we need as managers (or self owned mangement) and I bet they can make a lot of money.

 For what use? I know in Pittsburgh there is some farm land that is rented to farms but the cost is so minimal that the only thing I would assume that this would be for would be for appreciation. It isn't a horrible idea. Kind of think of it as a low risk stock. You aren't going to sell tomorrow and make big gains but if you hold onto it for a long time you should see a nice return. Minimal to no monthly expenditures outside of taxes. It's a thought for sure. Especially in areas that are right outside of booming areas. Those should increase in value quicker than land way out in the middle of nowhere. 

 Yes I am. My husband and i are investors and we also own a real estate firm that specializes in helping out of state and out of country investors for buy and holds, brrrs, and flips.

I agree with a lot being said. I think it's important to ask the listing agent (or have your agent ask the listing agent) why the seller is selling. Sometimes it is picked up as a flip so the owner never intended to keep it. If the numbers work, it could be a good investment. Also, I have owners who are just ready to be done being a landlord and will renovate prior to selling to try to get as much as possible for the property but just dont want the headache of tenants anymore.

Hi Santi,

Are you a wholesaler? Or are you looking to work with a wholesaler?

I would agree with what @Mike Klarman said. Western PA is a great area. I would say the best strategy would be to pick up single family homes in the $80-$120k range, put $30-$50k in, rent and re-finance. You can pretty quickly turn this into $10million in more of real estate. Between the steady cash flow and appreciation you would be set. 

This looks great!

I haven't done a lot of this on the investment side but I have done a lot of this on the real estate broker side. I will say that on average you get 20-30% lower rents then market rent and 25-40% lower resale prices with a prefab. I just dont think it's a great investment strategy. I would recommend either a local builder who can work with you on the cost or amish build depending on where it's located. If you need any help I can surely try but I personally would stay away from prefab as an investment option.

We do this for owners by using the matterport system. I really like it and you can do a lower quality version right from your phone if you dont have the matterport camera. We do have the camera and it really helps with floor plans.

This is something that comes up a lot when I'm talking with investors, specially about rentals in the Pittsburgh area. My personal opinion is when we lease a property with an unfinished basement we advertise that the basement could accumulate water. It's a living space under ground and we try to prevent it but water could arise. For finished basements, if it's just a little bit of water, I agree, dehumifider. Otherwise you can go the french drain route or, if only 1 patch of water, a diversion system. I've done that with a few of our properties to route and then ultimately drain the water. 

Hope that helps!