All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Chaudet

Hi all, 

What markets have people been successful in finding land that is zoned for 10-20 unit multifamily development projects? Preferably on the east coast (but not mandatory), within an hour of a major airport, population above 100K. We're based in Philly with active projects here and are looking to expand into a new market. 

In Philadelphia, we prefer to buy shell properties and fully gut-renovate them. This is because we focus on buy-and-hold rentals, and we have found that replacing all major systems and essentially having a brand-new house allows us to charge a premium rent and attract high-quality tenants who are more likely to stay long-term. In our experience, fully gut-renovated properties have lower maintenance and capex costs for the first several years of ownership, which makes them easier to manage.

Hi Rob,

I would personally stay away from old condos. At the end of the day, you will still be responsible for the cost of the maintenance in the form of an HOA & potential reassessments. You also cannot control who the neighbors are in the condo building either. There are plenty of rowhome opportunities where you do not need to deal with an HOA.

I have been investing in Philadelphia for almost 10 years. The city still offers plenty of opportunity & potential for new investors.

I share your concern about older properties needing a lot of ongoing maintenance. This is why we typically buy shells, fully renovate them top to bottom, then lease them out. You can typically be all in significantly less than the market value and now you have a brand-new property with lower capex in the earlier years.

Good luck!

Hi @Walder Javier,

You should reach out to @Irfan Raza's team at Property Buyer Connect. They are one of the best wholesalers to work with in Philly. 

Hi, 

We have been considering using Codebox type lockboxes for self showings but have been concerned about prospective tenants or vendors not putting the keys back in the lockbox. This gave us the idea to look into keyless locks to aleviate this issue. 

Does anyone know of any keyless locks that automatically reset the code after a certain period of time and does not need Wifi? 

Hi @Tadeh Vartanian

To me, this seems like an easy answer. If you do not live or have any links in either market, I would pick Greensboro for many of the reason that you mentioned.

-NC landlord friendlier laws: https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/renting/states-best-worst-laws-renters/

-migration overall is trending south: https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2018

-NC is fiscally healthy (#9 ranking vs #32 in Michgan): https://www.mercatus.org/publications/urban-economics/state-fiscal-rankings

-NC is a great state to do business in: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/10/americas-top-states-for-business-2019.html

-Greensboro has an increasing population

-Detroit has a declining population

-NC has better weather

-from a quick google search, Detroit has among the highest property tax rates in the country

-property tax rates in Greensboro are low depending on where you are coming from

Not only does Greensboro have a population of about 290,000 people but it is within 30 minutes of Winston-Salem (244K population) and High Point NC (111K population). The entire Triad metro has a population of about 1.6M people. And you are right, it is also within a couple of hours from either Raleigh or Charlotte, NC.

Hi @Abdul King, 

If you live in Philadelphia, why not just invest in Philly? Philly is a great city to invest in. 

@Katherine Hong:

If you are looking in Wilmington Delaware, maybe you should consider looking 45 minutes North in Philadelphia PA. Philly is a much larger city with a greater access to resources (lenders, investors, PM’s, contractors, tenants, real estate agents, wholesalers, etc). Many neighborhoods are also undergoing revitalization/gentrification which could boost your returns if you are lucky enough to experience that while holding for the long term. While you wait, the cash flow in Philly is great too. Philadelphia's population growth is not fast by any means, but from what I am looking at it is stronger than Wilmington's as of the last 10-20 years.

@Max T., you might not know enough wholesalers then ;). 95% of the deals I buy in Philly are wholesale deals that are discounted compared to what is on the MLS.

Hi @Ernest Partin and @Dave Estochen,

I recently started investing in Charlotte, NC and have been very pleased so far. There is a lot of opportunity for rentals in developing areas of West Charlotte where I am focusing in. You can still get cheap properties that cash flow in surrounding suburbs of Gastonia and Concord North Carolina as well.