All Forum Posts by: Greg Ressler

Hey all, I've been buying and rehabbing older houses for a little while now and have really enjoyed it.  I'm working on some new adventures and would really like to build my own row home.  Although I'm excited, I am looking to learn about this process before just diving in.  So, I have a few things I'm trying to figure out...

-What is the average build per sq/ft for a row home in philly?

-How difficult is the process to do if you hire a contractor to handle it all?

-How much time should you plan from starting until finished?

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but this is the starting point that I'm looking at now.  I am also a licensed contractor in Philadelphia but have no experience working with the city, and I hear L&I can be tough to work with on projects like this.

Thanks for any input!

Thanks everyone for the great responses...I will call the local town and see what I can dig up. The property is located in Philadelphia zoning so dealing with that municipality would be a pain, but definitely worth it. Looking at a positive cash flow and living rent free in one of the units if I can manage to pull off this deal. It wouldn't be worth it to purchase and convert back to a single family home. At that point and price I would find a better suited single family home to move into. Owner has no desire to apply and convert the property to a legally zoned property. Trying to find out why as this ha to be the main reason it's still on the market after 100+ days and prices close to standard single family homes in the area.

Greetings all, I'm currently looking at a house that I really love. It's in the area I want to live in, and it's a duplex! Exactly what I'm looking for! Plan would be to live in half of the house and rent the other which would cover the mortgage/insurance/taxes... Great Deal! Here's the catch. When I went to see the property I was hooked! Updated and in great condition. When looking to get a conventional mortgage, I realized the house is residential single family zoned! This illegal conversion to a duplex has led me to loose the ability for a conventional mortgage, and I'm not I have enough cash to have the down payment for a commercial loan. I do have another property that I currently live in, but it's not appraising high enough in an exploding neighborhood because it is a unique property. It has two separate houses on one deed and it's creating a large cash flow every month while renting. There's no comps in the area like it and even after rehabbing both places the HELOC just doesn't seem to work. Questions: What's a good source for finding a 20-30,000 loan for 3-5 years? Any thoughts or ideas on interesting ways to make this deal work? Can I talk directly to the Owner and try to work a deal out with them? Almost a rent to own idea for a year until I have enough cash for a commercial loan? Plan would be to acquire the house, and immediately apply for re-zoning to make future sale and HELOC more possible. Thanks for any input!

@Joseph Scorese, thanks I'll check it out.

@Ryan Cameron, I have a few deals under my belt...buy and holds, but looking for a few more to manage and retire:)

@Katie Heer, Working in Kensington and Fishtown for a few years.  Looking into Mt Airy and Roxborough currently.

@Ian Walsh I'm looking at a property in Philadelphia that is zoned Single Family that the owner converted into a duplex.  Have you had any interactions with these kind of deals in the past in Philly?  I'm interested in pursuing this property b/c I really want to live in this house for the foreseeable future.  

Excited to meet people in the Philadelphia area doing real estate deals.