All Forum Posts by: David Krulac

@Bryan Zayac  In PA, there is a state document called the Municipal Planning Code MPC.  I'd look at that as well as the Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Ordinance, which every Pa township, borough or city has, or if they don't have those docs, they are covered by the county codes. Since you're familar with commerical development, most enginering firms, and attorneys work on both residential and commerical.  You can get bids from several vendors in thsi space.  I would also look at the availability of public water and public sewer, if not at the site how far away are those services. We've had to so developments where neither service was available and we needed to do wells and septics.  Other areas of concern are wetlands, flood plains, endangered species, archtectural and historic significance.  We've had to deal with each of those aspects at one time or another.  If the property fronts on a state road, you will need an Highway Occupancy Permit from Pennsylvania department of Transportation, to gain accces to the road.  On one project we did we proposed 36 highway accesses and were denied as been excessive.  If not on a state road, a muncipal permit is also usually required.  We've had develpment plans with stream and wetlands crossings, which required both state and Federal permits.  You can expect that you will be required to build roads, sidewalks, storm water control, utility taps, street lights, street trees as well as recreation fees as part of the development process.  And hopefullt you won't need a traffic light, which costs in excess of $100,000, though you will be required to do a traffic study.  We've also had to do Hydro-geological studies.  While daunting, your experiences engineering firm and attorney will be able to guide you through the project.  

https://www.parealtors.org/blog/pennsylvania-population-chan...

Pennsylvania is the fifth largest state after California, New York, Texas and Florida.  Pennsylvania is alos one of eight states with declining population, New York, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon and West Virginia.

@Jonathan Small I've done some sturies in my area. There are 9 x buyers for owner occupied houses than there are investor buyers. Additonally investor buyers use matrix like cash flow to determine value. Whereas owner occupant buyers are looking at comps, sold prices for similar nearby properties, and don't care about cash flow. We have made money buying properety based on cash flow (lower priced) rented out for a period, then selling to an owner occupant. Its arbitrage of sorts. In fact most of the rental SFH we have sold to owner occuoants. In one town where we had 12 rental houses, every one was sold to owner occupants, not landlords.

For me I would not buy a property with zero or negative numbers.  Look harder.  I spoke in Raleigh, last April and think its a great place to invest. BTW, I just bought 5 properties in 5 days in 3 states.  Even though there is low inventory, interest rates are high, and many properties don't cash flow, look harder there are always deals, you just need to find/make them.

you have to inspect BEFORE the sale.  The list comes out at least 30 days before the sale and the owners have opportunities to pay off the debt anytime in those 30 days.  At some sales they will even accept payment the day of the sale during the auction if that property has not been sold yet.  Why would you literally wait until the last minute, when a flat tire or difficulty finding a parking space be the difference between keeping and losing your home?

Many of my properties are in PA and other northern states.  The real pool season is 3-4 months, which also sways my opinion.  If I invested in FL, CA, AZ, NV, I'd probably have a different opinion, but warmer climate still doesn't mitigate the liability and maninenace objections.

Owner occupied united increased by 8.4%

"Still, although the overall share of households that rented decreased, the number of rented units increased by over a million units (43.3 million to 44.6 million)."

I have bought and sold over 1,000 properties, a few have had pools.  At 2 properties removed the pools.  And we had a large inground pool at our residence, really for the kids.  There are 2 big reasons why I never had and would never have.

1. Insurance liability, I personally know 2 families that lost their children in home pools. Its a personal nightmare and tragic event.  No amount of insurance covers the personal loss.

2. Maintenance, We had a pool so I know first hand, you really need daily work on a pool.  Some days are pretty minor, but you need to skim, check filters, check ph, check cholrine, etc. One time we went on vacation and a neighbor was supposed to check the pool daily.  When we got home the pool was split pea green, and it took more than a week to get the pool back in shape.  

Hard and fast rule for me no pools at tenant properties. We have had rental properties where the HOA had a community pool, that was ok with me.

all materials, all labor costs to others, Not you, utilities, interest payments, permits, licenses, auto/truck expenses, tools needed are all deductable. What is not deductable is paying yourself for work done. What is not deductable is princuple payments. In an LLC or not does not affect dedcutability.

The first house that I bought was 17 years old, 3 br, 1.5 bath, brick ranch house with hardwood floors, Andersen windows, ceramic tile baths, gas heat and a brand new roof.  I paid $27,000.  Zillow says its worth $240,000, which I think is low, and would rent for over $2,000.