All Forum Posts by: Sophie Mia

@Theo Hicks

Which local meetup group would you recommend in Tampa? I am moving there in 2 months and would like to buy a single family or condo.

Hi everyone,

I am moving to Tampa in 2 months and am looking to buy several rental properties there. The idea is to buy a property, live there for one year and then buy the next one - rinse & repeat. I should have enough money for a down payment every year or so, as long as the property does not cost significantly more than $150-$180k.

So the question is - which areas would you recommend? Right now I am targeting the areas around Seminole Heights for single family properties or the area east of USF & Temple Terrace for condos. I know that condos have a huge HOA fee but tend to be significantly cheaper than single family homes - so it may still be worthwhile?

I am mainly looking for solid cash flow in an “okay” area (I have good experience with up and coming areas that are sort of sketchy, but not the worst). Some appreciation would be nice too of course.

I would appreciate any wisdom from local Tampa investors!

Hi everyone,

I recently moved to Amsterdam and am looking to buy an apartment in the city. I am thinking a 3 room apartment of which I could rent out 2 rooms either as a longer term rental (12 months) or a B&B style short term rental. 

Due to tighter AirBnB regulations, starting 2019 landlords can only rent out their entire homes for 30 days during the year (as a short term rental). Hence that does not seem like a good option.

Does anyone have experience with short-term vs long-term rentals of part of their home in Amsterdam? I'm curious about taxation, legal issues etc. Also, if there are any real estate groups in Amsterdam, let me know!

Thank you. :)

Hi everyone,

I own a triplex in West Philly and am looking for a reliable leasing agent who can quickly place new tenants whenever one of my tenants moves out. Any recommendations?

Thank you!!

Hi everyone,

I've had a bad experience with my current property management company, especially when it comes to tenant placement. One of my apartments was empty for almost 6 months - even though I referred several interested people to them, the management company never got around to showing the place and kept making excuses. 

When I still lived in Philly and did the showings myself, it only took me around 2-3 weeks per apartment to find a new tenant (around 5 showings usually). So I feel pretty confident that the quality of the apartments and price point are not the issue. Also, several of the tenants who I placed last year renewed for a second year and therefore seem happy there. 

Does anyone have a good recommendation for property management companies in the University/West Philly area? I am currently traveling abroad, so it is not feasible to manage it myself. Someone recommended "Your Local Leasing Co" to me in the past but it seems like they have TERRIBLE yelp reviews - any experiences with them?

Thank you!!

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a property management company for my triplex in the West Philly/University city area. They should be full service - rent collections, repairs, emergency calls etc.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I am buying a triplex in the Philly area which is currently supplied with gas heat (for the entire house). The heating unit is very old and would most likely not make it another winter, so I definitely need to replace it sometime this year. Also, the gas heat supplies the entire house and is not split by unit, so I would probably end up paying the entire heating bill (very undesirable for me).

I am considering replacing the current gas heat with electric baseboard heat. Electric is already separate for each unit, so in that case each tenant would be responsible for their own electric heat bill.

The whole house is about 2400sqft, there are two 2-bedroom units and one 1-bedroom unit. I know that electric heat is a bit more expensive than gas heat but considering that each unit is relatively small, the tenants would only need to heat about 2-3 small rooms each.

Do you guys think that this is feasible? From your experience, does electric heat make an apartment much less desirable for future tenants?

Has anyone attempted installing electric baseboard as a do-it-yourself project? I know some wiring is involved and I'm not exactly an electrician. I'd rather save some money though and attempt doing it myself.

Any advice is appreciated! Thank you!

@Joe Gore: It's not enough time if the utilities are not on. There were several issues with the utility company which prevented me from getting the utilities turned on (they are still off in fact). Mainly issues on their side, technicians getting the order wrong etc. Inspectors need the utilities to be on for the inspection.

@Bryan: I don't have a lot of money to fix up a house. I am buying this house under the assumption that it doesn't require major repairs. Those would be a deal breaker.

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of buying a triplex (foreclosure). It looks like it's in very good condition and should be move-in ready. I will be using FHA Financing.

The problem is that the bank gave me only 10 days to do the inspection. Unfortunately I did not receive the agreement of sale until 2 days later (I guess it took the listing agent some time to send it to my realtor), so I really only had 8 days for the inspection.

The house was winterized, so I had to get a plumber in to de-winterize it and the Gas Works to turn on the utilities...unfortunately there was a mix up and the Gas Works did not turn all utilities on...therefore I had to cancel my inspection which was scheduled for the next day, and had to reschedule both the appointment with the Gas Works & the inspection. Of course this included several days wait time for new appointments.

Long story short, I wasn't able to get the inspection done within 10 days and the bank refuses to give me an extension! What should I do? My 10 days inspection period runs out tomorrow (Friday) and the inspector is not coming until Saturday...So basically I need to agree to this house before I get the inspection done.

My realtor says not to worry, since I am doing FHA financing...if anything is horribly wrong with the house, FHA would not approve it & would not give me a loan. Therefore I would be able to get out of the contract without losing my deposit (since the sales contract is contingent on me getting FHA financing).

What do you guys think? Is his advice correct? The house is looking pretty good, I do not foresee major issues...however, who knows what an inspection will turn up? I'm worried that I will lose my deposit if I need to back out of this contract...

Thanks for the advice!

Hi everyone,

Let's say I buy a house which is appraised by the city at about $100k more than what I am paying for it (in 2014). Therefore my taxes will be based on the higher appraisal which took place in 2013.

How difficult would it be to appeal the appraisal? Is it easier since I obviously paid $100k less than the supposedly correct market value from the appraisal?

Thank you!