All Forum Posts by: Erik Pacpaco

Noted to be one of the most affordable places to live country, Pittsburgh’s property taxes have gone up so you will have think about your numbers when looking at properties there.

Allegheny County reassessed and raised their property taxes based on the new purchase price.

So if you have a new purchase in Allegheny County, the county will assess the property tax based on what you bought it for.

I was paying $212.55 before and received a notice from my recent escrow analysis that I will start paying 801.21 in taxes starting February, basically 4x what I was originally paying.

So now the mortgage payment has almost doubled cutting into the property’s cashflow.

Is this correct?

Anyone in investing Pittsburgh notice the change?

Anyone have the same experience in Pittsburgh?

Any thoughts?

Advice?

My partner agreed to let me buy her out on an out of state investment SFR property that we purchased together this year.

How do you close the partnership completely? How do you remove someone from the title of the property and how you remove someone from the loan?

Please let me know your thoughts and advice with going about this.

Thank you!

@Basit Siddiqi

Will I be able to write off some of my taxable income if I have the loss from sale of these vacant lots as well?

My mom bought these vacant lot properties in Phrump, NV and Kingman, AZ 15-20 years ago thinking that they would appreciate in value. At the time of purchase, it seemed that they was promise of the place doing well and becoming a retirement community outside of Las Vegas but that didn’t happen and the properties have gone down in value and worth less than 10-20 percent of what she purchased them for. My question is whether donating them to our favorite nonprofit organization would be a good option? Has anyone done this before. I looked into putting them on the market for sale but no one is buying vacant land there, we’d get a lowballed big time if anyone was remotely interested, then get taxed on the sale. We understand that it’s a big loss but we are looking to the best strategy to beat the situation and restructure our portfolio from this and get something else that performs if we can get anything from this. Please share any thoughts or advice. Thank you!

Are you suggesting seller financing the vacant land? That's an interesting idea. Please tell me more.

I am in the same boat where my mom purchased multiple lots 1 hr outside of Las Vegas. For me, I would rather sell these lots off and purchase something else that cash flows. 

I'm a long distance real estate investor who is looking to BRRRR in Pittsburgh and having a tough time getting started. I was wondering what other investors do to oversee their rehabs when long distance investing in Pittsburgh? The PM i found said that they will oversee the rehab but for 10 percent and my agent said that he will do it for 7-8 percent. When it comes to a significant rehab >$50k both of those fees seem like a lot. Can anyone share what they have done to oversee a renovation or verify what their contractor has done?

Does anyone know a property manager that they can recommend in Pittsburgh? The one that found I can’t afford, charging the first month’s rent, 10 percent, then half the month for renewing the lease. Does anyone have a PM they can recommend?

Thanks responding Adam. I'm hoping that replacing the roof, garage, and deck as well as brushing up the house will raise the ARV up to 130k and I can try to get 70 percent LTV when I refinance. It's my first long distance BRRRR and I would like just do it. I'm waiting for bids to come in and this one looks high. Check out this email:

I'm still waiting on formal bids for everything but here is the ballparks I received from one of them

The garage is really the largest issues. I'm not sure of an exact price because I'm waiting on my demo guy, but to demo the garage its most likely going to be between 15-25k.landscaping $1500front porch roof repair $3500railing replacement $250fence repair $750rear porch roof repair $500New kitchen cabinets, countertops, flooring, paint, etc. $8500rekey all doors $300Replace door to basement $650Patch/paint interior $5500New carpet bedroom $650Replace stair carpet . $300Replace bedroom and hallway carpet upstairs $1750Fix missing doorknob on bedroom $180Patch/Paint ceiling bedroom 1 $350New full bathroom vanity, flooring, shower/tub surround, toilet, medicine cabinet, paint $4000patch/paint ceiling bedroom 3 $750New light fixtures throughout $1900
You most likely will also need a new roof. It might be able to be done for around 10k just for a tear down. If you rebuild it will be closer to $25k.Roof should be around 5k.

Please let me know what you think. 

@Adam Lang I put $2500 for the Ernest money payment

@Adam Lang thank you for the feedback. I originally purchased this place thinking that it’d be 15-20k in renovations but it turned out the contractors came back with news that there is more to the rehab than what we expected. They said that the roof, garage and deck will have to be replaced. I’m hoping that the renovations will add value. Between forfeiting the Ernest money and finding another deal vs going with this property at 34.5k and a 60k rehab, what is the better option?