All Forum Posts by: Elizabeth Rose

@Josh Bowser this tip of doing a quick search on county GIS or software to see if homes in a neighborhood are owned in personal names or LLCs is gold, thank you! Much appreciated.

Thanks for these insights, @Josh Bowser! I'm also curious what your experience has been with neighbors - have you gotten a lot of complaints, pushback, etc? 

Thanks for the feedback @Jarrod Ochsenbein! This is helpful.

Hi friends! I'm exploring getting into PadSplits. I've read a lot of posts in the forum here on the pros and cons of this strategy... what I would love is some insights from actual PadSplit hosts on the assumptions/operating expenses to take into account when evaluating a property.

**I understand this data will vary market to market, I'm just looking for ballparks here.**

I'm wondering specifically about:

- Cost to furnish - do you work with an assumption based on the number of bedrooms? For example: $700 per bedroom x 8 bedrooms = $5,600? (just looking for a ballpark here)

- Average number of room turnovers per year - PadSplit says the average tenant stays 9 months

- Average cost of each room turnover (room & carpet cleaning, repairs due to wear and tear)

- Repairs and maintenance - how much are you typically setting aside for this? I imagine it's higher than a typical single family rental considering it looks like the host usually ends up paying for any damage caused by tenants due to a variety of reasons (tenant refuses to pay, damage happened in a common area and it's not clear what tenant caused it, etc.).

- Rental loss - PadSplit claims they collect 97% of rents, but I've spoken to a few hosts who have said that a much larger % of their tenants get kicked out owing $500 or more in back rent that is rarely ever collected - what's your experience been here?

- Evictions - do you budget this cost into your underwriting? If so, how much?

- Do you send in a cleaner to clean the common areas? If so, how frequently?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Thanks @Stuart Udis, all of this makes sense. I am definitely learning a lot from this deal, that's for sure! Thanks for the feedback.

@Russell Brazil I was also thinking only the previous owner may have a claim for any damages. Thanks for the feedback here.

 @Alan Asriants Thanks for the feedback! As a Philly agent, would you advise your clients against buying such properties? The feedback I received when considering buying it was that the empty lots on either side was a plus as there's lots of new construction in the area and the value would go up once new homes are built around it. But knowing what I know now, I wouldn't buy a property like this again.

 @Chris Seveney thanks for the suggestion. I haven't gone to my insurance company yet. I'm concerned about the impact that filing a claim would have on my insurance score and premiums for this property and other rentals. What's your experience been with this? Is there a specific dollar amount threshold under which you'll just pay for a repair yourself vs. going through insurance?

I recently bought a 100-year-old rowhome in Philadelphia as part of an estate sale. My original goal was to fix and rent. It's detached - the city knocked down the home on one side in 2018 and a private individual knocked down the home on the other side in 2022. This is very common in Philly as there’s a lot of older homes and the city is working to gentrify certain neighborhoods. As far as I know, there are no plans to build on either lot any time soon.

At the start of the renovation, we replaced the roof. Later, we stripped off the old patterned wallpaper inside the house and saw that the walls were covered in water stains. My GC primed and painted over them a few times thinking they were just old, stubborn stains that needed extra product, but they kept coming back after each rainfall.

I hired a water intrusion detection company to help me pinpoint the problem - they said the new roof seemed solid and that based on infrared and temperature readings, the moisture is coming in from the partition walls. I then got assessments from several masonry contractors who all said the same thing. They also said they see this problem ALL the time in Philly… when the city or a private individual knocks down a rowhome, they are responsible for treating the exposed partition wall of the next door property to protect it from the elements. Apparently they should be brick pointing with lime mortar, but instead, they said the city will just plaster over the historical materials (original brick and lime mortar) with Portland cement because it's cheaper, faster and easier than working with more delicate, temperature sensitive lime mortar. Several of the masonry contractors said they can’t believe the city gets away with this because it's a known issue that these materials don't mix and it will eventually cause problems like water intrusion that can be very costly for the owner to fix.

I’ve gotten quotes ranging from $6,500-$12k to repair and waterproof the exterior walls, plus there's the added cost of repairing and repainting the inside walls. I contacted the city and they are telling me it's "been too long" since they plastered the wall on their side (2018) so it's basically not their problem. I haven’t contacted the private individual yet about the wall on their side. I’m now way over budget on this project and have now listed the property for sale while I also work on the repairs. 

I’m considering hiring a lawyer to try and recover the cost of the repairs and potentially my extended holding costs. Has anyone else come across this issue and if so, how did you remedy it? Any other tips, recommendations, etc are most welcome. (Also, if anyone is interested in acquiring a Brewerytown rowhome, hit me up! It's competitively priced and the section 8 rent - if you choose to go that route - is very strong.) Thanks, all!

 Thanks @Aaron Hill! I'm thinking we need to figure out how the moisture is getting in, otherwise whatever primer or paint is used will just get discolored again?