All Forum Posts by: Elise Bickel Tauber

Very interesting responses here. I can only speak from my 20 years of experience in real estate in Pittsburgh, PA. Your laws and "customary" responses to situations where you are from may be different. I always teach my staff there is a "legal" responsibility and an "ethical" responsibility. Legally, if this situation happened in PA, per our lease, we are not required to do anything at all. Our leases state that when situations happen like this they need to contact their renters insurance and their insurance will determine if they are entitled to something or not.

From an ethical responsibility, it is not their fault or your fault that these appliances stopped working. And if they owed the property they would be facing the same hardships with having to wait for the replacement. But I would offer them a small credit for their inconvenience. If the rent was $5000 I would offer them $250(or so) as a connivence credit. Maybe even $500. What I think about is if you have a good paying tenant, how you handle situations like this may be the difference between the tenant staying another year or not. What would the potential turn over cost you? If you would have little to no vacancy and could rent for more and there would be no costs (if you self lease) then maybe it's worth saying "not giving you a dime" but if it will be costly I would be more liberal with the credit. 

Just my two cents.

Hi Daniela,

Would be happy to chat and help however I can. I'm an investor with my husband and also a realtor in Pittsburgh!

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.