All Forum Posts by: Henry Vargas

Hello @Zachary Scott its great to see that you have an ambitious mind at such a young age and willing to learn to further drive that ambition. If I was to offer any of what little advice I have to offer, it would be to listen to the the bigger pockets podcast and read Brandon Turners book on real estate investing.

One day while driving for work I decided I wanted to learn about real estate and found the previously mentioned book, and in said book was mentioned the biggerpockets podcast which became my next step to real estate education.

I would say Brandon Turners book on real estate investing would be a real estate 101 freshman course, and listening to the bigger pockets podcast would be like gaining a 4 year college degree. If you're serious about learning and can put aside time to invest into learning I would recommend starting from episode 1 and listen to every single podcast episode. Once you're caught up to biggerpockets nearly 450 real estate podcast episodes, I am confident that you would be knowledgeable in real estate and could hold a conversation in any room of real estate professionals.

I'll even throw in one more and say if youre interested in the Philadelphia market, look for a real estate investors meet up and join to learn market knowledge specifically catered to the Philadelphia and surrounding markets. Dont be afraid to join not knowing much, just be a fly on the wall and soak up all the knowledge you can, while also networking and getting to know local real estate professionals that could potentially be future partners, lenders, agents, etc.

I think if you follow through with those points thoroughly I can confidently say that you will be a real estate professional yourself in the near future.

I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, and feel free to reach out if I can be of any help.

Hello @Jodie Carlson, a few months ago I had a few electric companies come and quote me on installing electric baseboard heaters on my triplex. Gen3 electric was the company that I finally settled on so I would say to give them a call and have them go see the work and give you a quote.

I had them install a couple baseboard electric heaters in to each of the 3 units, their pricing ranged from about $1100 to $1300 a unit. This pricing may or may not reflect your own quote because that sort of job all depends on how difficult the job is, the distance to the electric panel, the kind of heater they use, etc. I was able to do a bit of negotiating on the price and then finally settled on a $3000 quote, a final discount for paying all in cash vs a check, card or payment schedule. This price beat out other companies quotes from about $900 to a crazy $2000 from other companies.

They were very professional and there technician was very knowledgeable, they cleaned up as best they could after the work was done and finished the work all in one day. I'd say they are definitely worth giving a call along with a couple other electricians to compare apples to apples.

Best of luck, I hope that helps a bit. Reach out if you have any further questions.

Nice @Steven Hellinger I wish you continued success, maybe one day i'll have as many as you :)

I appreciate the offer to help. This is all new to me so i will definitely reach out through a private message.

Hey @Steven Hellinger

I got more information and went through with it, so I currently have the property under contract.

Yes, each floor has it own elecrtical panels. It's basically already set up to just call PECO to have then add the meters and then you just have someone wire it together. Besides that I'm just going to separate the gas line.

I'll share numbers on utility work if settlement goes through.

Okay, that makes much more sense. Thank you.

Thanks for the response @Pat L. I appreciate your insight. I lack a bit of knowledge on the contracting side, what exactly is an esop?

There is a property that i'm interested in that is located in Cheltenham PA, literally right on the border of Montogomery and Philadelphia Counties. It is a SFH that was converted into a 3 Floor triplex, the utilities aren't seperate and i was wondering what the cost might be to make that happen. I know that there are certain things the utility companies will come add for you at no cost, but what work will need to be done and about how much would it cost to seperate gas and electric, and is water also something that i should seperate? Would i get more information on the matter, contacting a contractor or Peco/PGW?

Hi BP,

I'm looking to get started in my investment journey this year with a househack. I want to get started on the first steps of the process by looking for a lender to see how much i can be approved for. I'm in the Philadelphia market and plan on using some sort of first time home buyers or FHA loan. Are there any lenders that anyone has had good experience with in the past that anyone would be willing to refer?

@Zeke Liston I appreciate the kind words