All Forum Posts by: Elise Bickel Tauber

I think this is all going to come down to marketplace. And sometimes, even the agent you partner with. A lot of the agents in my area agree with my team and I on the class ratings but others don't. For Pittsburgh, I usually tell my clients that A areas are the trendier areas. Higher rent prices, better quality tenants, little to no cash flow (usually) but good appreciation and less of a chance of evictions or damage from tenants (and if they damage they usually pay). The goal on these is just long term appreciate and less day-to-day income.

B areas are lower cash flow, but longer term tenants. These tenants often stay a bit longer and are well qualified but there isn't usually a great margin. I often times see higher repair requests in these areas because tenants here expect a certain level of mechanical and cosmetic readiness. 

C areas are my personal favorite. Especially those that are on the rise. You have a medium risk here of eviction and damage when a tenant leaves but you also have a good chance of a longer term tenant, good cash flow, and a slow and steady appreciation.

D areas always look good on paper but they are very high risk. If you find a good tenant here if can be a gold mine but often times you are dealing with a lot of apps before approval and the approved tenants are usually still borderline, lots of evictions, damage, etc. 

Let me know if that helps!

I always tell people, these issues are never black and white. They are all various shades of gray. First, I'm going to ask you what your lease says. Because what I'm reading here, if 100% factual, could have a different outcome depending on the lease (a little bit). So our leases state that if the tenant doesn't notify us of repairs timely that they are ultimately responsible for the cost of the repair. We have won in court before on this, but more times then not, a judge will use their judgement and award a partial amount for the "additional cost" their untimeliness cost the owner in additional repair costs. 

Either way, the fact that the tenant won't let you do the repair, if documented, should protect you from any habibility issue. We've had tenants decide to not pay rent before and start damaging the house to make it uninhabitable. 

A good idea moving forward is to create a good business relationship with an attorney who is local and have them on standby to run these kinds of things by them. They may need more detail to help you navigate earlier on. Not sure where in PA you are but we are in Pittsburgh and if you need a Pittsburgh attorney recommendation let me know. I can share some good ones.

Hi Roee! Welcome to the Pittsburgh market! I highly recommend checking out niche.com when researching the best brrr areas. The areas do change reguarly in regards to demand, pricing, etc so it's best to work with a team here. I'll dm you some contacts for financing, agent, reno, etc!

Hi Dallas. Can you tell me anything more about what your approval requirements are for these projects? My team and I work with a lot of investors and they always ask me about income verification, credit score, etc.

Thanks!

Hi Bagus! I just sent you a DM. Pittsburgh is a great market and I highly recommend talking with as many people as you can about the market here. Let me know if I can help!

 If you are able to and want to go the more traditional safe way, I'd highly consider house hacking. Like @Liam Tennies said. It's a really great way to get started with little down. I've done this with a lot of clients and they've been very successful. Not everyone I work with though wants to or can house hack. Something I've been doing with my clients a lot recently is creative financing. There is always the hard money route. I also have some great lenders that have creative products. There is a colleague of mine who has been going the owner financing route. He picked up something like a dozen properties last year with very little down. He is planning to refi out of them when either the interest rates drop significantly (if they do) or when the property would re-fi at 60-70% of the owner financed amount but he does have a 30 year loan with the owners so if he wants to keep that option forever he can. Let me know if you want any creative options or just wanna chat!

I used a company called MRE and they were fantastic! I can share their info if you are interested!

Hey Justin! This is one of the most asked questions I get from my newer investors who are holding rentals. This is a tough one. So i've been an investor and real estate agent for a while and here is what I've seen work.

1. When screening, you need to have the same process across the board. I don't look at credit scores that much because they are easily changeable (like can be made to look a lot better then they should be lol). I do make sure we have 3xs the rent income or 1 years rent in savings. Also we heavily look at residential and employment history. If you have a lot of job hoping then there will be disruptions in their pay which means disruptions in their rent payments to you (more times then not). You are looking for more character references then anything. Never and I mean NEVER trust a landlord reference. Some of my best landlord referenced tenants have been my biggest nightmares. Either they lie about the contact info and have a friend talk them up or the landlord is just so desperate to get rid of the tenant they say whatever they need to do get them out. Really look at their employment and rental history and the rest should fall into place

2. You need to prequalify them a little before showing. We have 4 full time agents on staff and even with that we are often booked. The worst thing you want to do is show a place, they love it, and then you find out they can't move in for 4 months or they want to move in immediately and you have a tenant in there until the middle of summer. Make sure you check move in date, pets, and give a general overview of requirements for your application to make sure they meet it. They could lie but more often then not tenants will let you know upfront about any potential issue for the app.

3. Co-signers can be included in the eviction but they need to live in the same state. At least where I am in Pittsburgh, if the co-signer lives out of state i either cannot do anything or do very little to hold them to the eviction and repayment. A very well qualified co-signer will not want the hit on their credit or the potential garnishment of wages if something goes wrong

4. This has been the biggest thing we have been struggling with. You do not want to loose momentum in the market but you also don't want to waste your or anyone else's time. We give the approved applicant 48 hours to sign the lease and pay deposit or we put it back on the market until they do. During that 48 hour window we tell all other applicants we are scheduling for 48 hours or more past to allow time for the applicant to sign and if they do, we will call you back to cancel. This also lets them know if they end up being the applicant that has the time limit put on them, you aren't joking around. You will keep scheduling.

5. Zillow and facebook market place are still the best.

Hope that helps a little. If you ever need anything feel free to reach out!

Anything with the exterior in my opinion. Mainly because of all the extra work you have to do to keep an eye on weather and tarp etc. As long as you have utilities on, you can do a bathroom/kitchen remodel any time of year but the exterior...not my favorite lol