All Forum Posts by: Jimmy O'Connor

@Emmett O. There are plenty of landlords that do not operate rentals with licenses. This could be an issue if you go to evict though, taking to court without a rental license does not usually fare well for the landlord.

@Ariel Castillo This could be good news for you and Frank. I know you guys have some projects going on up there!

Hey @Colin Masterson! Getting a duplex in East Falls is possible, but it will be tough in Chestnut Hill. Both of which you are going to have to pay up on. Are you looking for Turnkey or to put some work into it?

Big Fan of Pottstown! Been trying to acquire more over there lately. 

Hey @Ben Mathew! You would be surprised on how much more you can get for that purse if you zoom out to other territories. I just had a closing for a 9 unit in the better part of Norristown PA that had a price tag of 500k without a crazy amount of work to do to it. @Rich O'Neill is right on point with the lower barrier of entry with more cashflow, but yeah the appreciation may not be as aggressive. From my understanding of Jersey, North Bergen is one of the best suburbs in the state, which likely makes it one of the most competitive. Is there a reason why you are looking to get into multi family investment there?

@Eric Greenberg I made this one looking on public records for all parcels that are 700sf using the "my maps" function of google! If you shoot me over your lots I can take a peak for you!

@Frank Robinson

Best way is to find out what the neighborhood wants. Find out your block captains and see what the feel on the streets is

This legislation will be tough on the new build investors that buy, build, and sell SF homes. Quite a hit to the shorts for the only remaining vacant lots left in developing areas. Those are areas primed for new construction with a huge number of RSA5 lots on 14x50 sf (exactly 700sf). If people own land or need to tear down their property now and build while they can still lock a 38ft building in place. @Dan Powers the minimum lot square footage for RSA5 properties is still 1,440sf not 960sf with 16ft of frontage if you are looking to subdivide without any sort of variance. Getting below 1000sf is usually only a special exception that depends on 75% of your surrounding lots being less than 1000sf specifically designed for large parcels that are surrounded by smaller lots so city can keep consistent density throughout the block. 

See the image below of the remaining RSA5 vacant land parcels that risk getting rezoned to RSA6 and can only have two stories built on it. 

Although it does seem like the city is trying it's best to get into developers ways, there are some council members that still support development. This one does not actually seemed directly linked to the Strawberry Mansion piece, they are supported by two different council members (Mansion rezoning by Darrel Clarke, new RSA6 zoning by Quinones-Sanchez) that likely are affecting two different areas.  Quinones-Sanchez is actually rather developer friendly (Clarke is not), this may be a balancing act for her constituents since she has been able to pass some investor favored overlays recently. Notice how a large portion of small vacant land falls within her district. The RSA6 zoning does not have anything to do with roof-decks, building materials, or having a homogenous look like the bill for Strawberry Mansion Rezoning. Interestingly, there are no lots that are <700sf in the area that Darrel Clarke imposed the new building restrictions. 

If you want to follow how the city is making its way more and more into real estate, I would rather follow how council members are LEGALLY starting to take over more influential roles as "city planners." This is where you'll start to be able to predict what areas will become more difficult to build in, and those that wont. 

@J Trucha just to clarify- which city are you in? There is a squirrel hill neighborhood here in Philly, I just want to make sure we are talking about the same place

Please and thank you!