All Forum Posts by: Jae Hee Hwang

@Maria Crenshaw The amount of words and wording suggests that you are a nosy landlord. For instance, you can tell them they cannot smoke in the apartment but you cannot tell them that they must be non-smokers. I would also allow one pet but charge annual pet fee.

Looking forward to another great event with you Basit! 

@Thomas Caridi oh wow! It’s so impressive that your first deal is a rehab deal! I think you will do very well there, and refinancing would open more capital for you. Props to you! How did you find a contractor to do the work as a first time investor?

@Grant Schroeder Honestly I think he can be worse than he is now. I would keep him but charge him $50 more per month so you can do deep cleaning after he moves out. It’s like pet fee :p

@Thomas Caridi hey fellow investor in the area :) I am charging 1795 rent although I was told I can charge at least 1900. I like to charge lower than market rate so that I can be more picky with tenants. I only paid 20% down as investment property (higher interest) so I got 5.25% rate, paying $1600 monthly mortgage. So I am not really making money on the house itself but I got a free lot that goes for around $90K that I plan to build on (as I gain more experience. What about you?

@Nicholas Leach I rented it out last year! For slightly below market price. $1795

Investment Info:

Single Family buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $295,000
Cash invested: $65,000

Single family house with a parking lot zoned for another single family home in South Kensington, Philadelphia around Norris Square.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The major appeal was the parking lot next door that's zoned to build another house. This is a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood so I thought I might build on the lot one day. This was my first deal ever.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional mortgage

How did you add value to the deal?

I painted the entire house and laid out new roof. Made some minor fixes.

What was the outcome?

Within 1 year, another 4 bed slightly bigger than my house on the same street was listed for 150K more. I expect it to sell at about 100K more.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The hardest thing was pulling the trigger. I was searching for a good deal for over a year but in retrospect that was not very wise because since the area was rapidly appreciating, prices rose more and more while I was searching.

Upside of college degree: We can have a better paying day job to finance RE deals. People, especially non-entrepreneurs respect good education, although not as much as wealth. 

 Downside of college degree: If we spend tuition on real estate deals we would be more likely to be more wealthy. If we spend the time to complete college on investing we would have compounded more and would have gained experience in investing.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Gloucester City.

Purchase price: $42,000
Cash invested: $42,000

1000 sqft 2 bedroom
from MLS
Cash deal
Turn-key

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The income potential was very high and even though there are no signs of gentrification, Philly next door is gentrifying so we were hopeful for some spill over effects eventually. The city is 15 minutes from Center City Philadelphia, and is safer than some parts of Philly and Camden county.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS

How did you finance this deal?

Cash

I had the same problem but I left it alone. I haven't heard of anyone changing the main service line because it's lead. I believe new constructions are not lead but copper nowadays but most houses in philly were built in early 1900s