All Forum Posts by: George W.

You could try to sell the house as is and make certificates of occupancy responsibility of buyer.  I'd imagine most of the horror stories you've heard about dealing with permits were people who didn't pull them at all or from people who didn't hire professionals to do the job correctly. I'd try to just let it get inspected and see what they say. 

Word of mouth is probably the best way to meet any professional in any field. Ex: using a contractor that a friend had excellent experience with. Contractors whom are not Trustworthy will not stay in business long look at how long they've been in business. Look for licenses, insurance certificates etc. 

I'd probably say that sounds a little tight. Seeing that it has propane, does it have well water and septic? If so and one of those are no good there goes most of your budget if not all of your budget. Another thing to consider besides material costs is permit fees depending on the scope of the work. You can easily spend a couple Grand just on permit fees at least in my state lol and not pulling any permits can lead to huge fines. Is the lot big enough to sub divide? It might be more profitable if so to tear down and sell land sub-divded to a builder.

Thanks sounds promising!

Hello i am new to biggerpockets, I am looking to buy my first rental property. I am from New Jersey but have been looking into PA more as an option because it is much more affordable to start out in. Reading is under 2hours away from home now and i've been to reading before near Albright and it seems decently stable compared to other big cities in NJ. I'd like to hear some input/advice from someone who knows the area.

What neighborhoods are the most desirable? How is the area slightly north of the double tree? What is an average 2bed 1bath appartment rent for? Are multi-units with a storefront a good idea or convert the store to another unit? As far as the city goes, does anyone know about licensing for contracting, plumbing etc.? Which codes they follow ucc, icc? Can anyone suggest a real estate agent who knows the area very well? How much property tax can i expect to pay living out of state on a property assessed for 80-125k i heard that PA gets most of their taxes from income? thank you for taking the time to read!