All Forum Posts by: Jared Forman

Philadelphia housing authority acquires properties around the city and boards them up. I am interested in buying property from the PHA and doing a full rehab then living in it. Has anyone every had success or attempted to buy from PHA??? 

Joe,

Welcome to the group. We are here to help out if you need it. If you want to grab coffee send me a private message.

I am speaking from the zoning side of things. When you want to make a change to the zoning of a building, you can save yourself tons of time  and stress by getting a lawyer or you can bootstrap it for ~$500-$600. Then the process begins.

1. You will apply for a zoning variance with the ZBA. Application can be found at  https://business.phila.gov/media/Zoning-Use-Registration-Permit-Application.pdf go to L&I and do the application with an agent together.

2. You will then get a notice of refusal, since you are trying to change zoning.

3. File and appeal https://www.phila.gov/li/PDF/Code%20Bulletins/applicationZBA%20appeal2013.pdf when you will explain why the current zoning is a hardship. DO NOT MAKE IT MONETARY. Thing in terms of the neighborhood how will it benefit the neighbors. You will also need a tax compliance certificate for the property.

https://secure.phila.gov/revenue/TaxCompliance/

4. Then you go through the neighborhood RCO and they will send a letter to ZBA on your behalf.

5. You will explain your case to ZBA and why it must be changed

When I decided who my tenant is I base it off of 4 things. This is all without breaking and discriminatory laws. 

1. What is the person's credit score?

2. What is their income / debt?

3. What is this person's motives for moving?

4. What kind of person are they?

I personally weight #4 above all since this will be my time wasted. Rent story about my tenant.

He is veteran, made some mistakes in his life before having children ( 10 years ago). As a result he has bad credit from those mistakes and was incarcerated. On the flip-side, he makes 70k/ year. I spoke with his current landlord and references they said he works his tail off and want to give his family everything. On top of that he told me everything up front. 

* That tells me that as a person. He accepts what he did and was showing me he is changed* 

I have had 0 problems with him and enjoy visiting. 

Found a boarded up condo building that has been vacant for over 5 years. After speaking with the neighbors, I found out that each unit was owned individually. My goal is to purchase the building and redo it to its previous glory.

Has anyone ever been in a similar situation?

What steps did you take to acquire the property?

Can I get the local government to help me?

I use fromhold jaffe Adams in Villanova. They are excellent with all real estate/ business matters

The best the best meet up you could go to to start would be dig

@Ross Goeringer Are you looking for Multifamily housing in the North West neighborhood of Philadelphia? If so you will find a large populations of the following:

1. Manayunk - Duplexes for days, these have solid rental incomes with good tenants.

2. Roxburough - Duplexes and some trip/quads this area is like an extensive of manayunk type. The tenants are more family oriented than manayunk.

3. Germantown/ Mount Airy. - Big beautiful houses. This area has those triplexes and quadplexes you want.  The rents are lower but the houses are so beautiful.

LaToya,

Welcome to the BP community. There is never a better time then today to get restarted in real estate investing. Some people might way "What If..." but those words cause us to doubt the decisions we make. 

It is great to hear you like your job and that you want to do real estate on the side. I would like to know.

1. What are your real estate goals for this year?

2. What type of help are you seeking?

Brrrr is an investment strategy where you buy a property with cash. Then you renovate the property. After renovation you rent the property. Once rented you go to a bank and get them to refinance, so you can pull your money out of the house and still keep equity potentially gaining monies. Then you take the money and start over.