All Forum Posts by: Jim K.

Yes, Don, of course taxes are taxes, and they are as unavoidable as death and dumb real estate policy decisions by our local socialist-leaning government. But how do I need to work with the 14% rate in Allegheny County versus what looks like 7% in Butler County, just to the north of us, as well as the other six counties that surround this one and collectively make up the Greater Pittsburgh MSA? What are others doing in the space here, given the hiked tax? What makes sense with this tax and what doesn't? I need the local skinny, as I am new to local Airbnb. I need to understand the contrast I have to make as being taxed much like I'm in Europe on contrast to all the surrounding counties, which offer more reasonable tax rates.

 I want to verify what Airbnb told me here, and ask what other Allegheny County investors have experienced regarding this.

Again, I don't have an application fee and I don't ask them to pay for the credit check I run. It really isn't worth it, and the long-term result speak for themselves. This is, of course, all only possible in my position as a small landlord running his own portfolio, which is very different from yours.

Jesus. The day a tenant hands me a piece of paper and I have to pretend I don't think they ginned it up themselves is the day I close up shop here.

 I don't know. I'm trying to find someone who's been through the grinder here in Allegheny County. Because Pittsburgh seems to be taxed at an even higher rate than Philadelphia.

 No, I understand and appreciate how and why property taxes are levied. I just didn't know that for every Airbnb.com booking, my guest is paying 14% sales tax up front. We might as well have ΦΠΑ and evade it Greek-style.

Is this really how it works? 6% for the Commonwealth, 1% extra for local tax, 7% more by the sale people who take the 1%, Allegheny County.

When did this become Europegheny County?

@Nathan Gesner

I pay TransUnion for the SmartMove credit, criminal, and rental check. This will not affect me.

I am able to do this because I live in Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County, where we have both a local court records system and a statewide judicial portal that gives us info on every eviction carried out in the Commonwealth. I use both extensively. By the time I get down to a candidate I like, I've already run extensive checks on her/him, verified their income, and the forty bucks for the check is just smart money spent.

I also think a large part of it is being in the affordable-rentals sector of the business. I've never had what i would consider a real professional tenant target me. I've had wannabes, but nobody bright and determined  enough to beat the system here in Allegheny County seems to want to use their skills just to mooch off me to stay in a C-class apartment.

You see, Joseph, right there you've missed my point. Just how low is BP supposed to set the bar? The first tab on the screen next to the logo is "LEARN." And look, "FORUMS" is all the way over over on the other side of the screen!

I think even if BP self-published, at huge expense, "THE ULTIMATE VIDEO COURSE TO STARTING IN REAL ESTATE" and stuck it under the LEARN tab, a large number of people would still just automatically click on FORUMS and continue to do what they do now. "PLEEEEEAAAAASSSEEEE, will someone mentor me for free here? PREEETTTYYYY PLEEEEEEEASSSSEEE???"

That's just how it goes.

@Joseph Gonnella

Oh sure, that sounds great, but in reality, what the forums get in the end are an avalanche of newbies, all asking the same four questions. And behind those those questions there really is only one question: "Will someone here mentor me for free? PLEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEEEE?"

The gurus never tell you that searching through the smoke and the mirrors in the game, extending yourself very uncomfortably into the unknown, being willing to invest and possibly waste your time searching for answers, actually building meaningful relationships, all of that's is a very big part, if not the biggest part, of winning in real estate.

When Hannibal was told it was impossible to get his elephants over the Alps to invade Roman territory from the north, he responded with the following:

"Aut inveniam viam aut faciam"

I WILL FIND A WAY OR MAKE ONE.

That's the attitude we need here. Not lazy grifters who ask for guidance and direction before they lift a finger to help themselves (which is the norm here, sad to say). Not entitled man-children who pout and pout when you call them on their BS. And most especially, not people looking for "a good start" in real estate.

Really, nobody who every gets anywhere in real estate ever had "a good start." You get in, you take a beating sooner or later, usually sooner, and then you get back up and go at it again. Until then, no one in this business is going to see you as anything other than someone to ignore or, worse, take advantage of. Sorry, just like everything else, everywhere else, sure, you're expected to pay your damned dues. And those dues are really financially expensive and even more expensive in terms of blood, sweat, tears, toil AND TIME.

You want a head start over the unwashed and a short cut to success (which is really what most people want)? Go to the gurus. Pay your money. Take your chances. Trust them. Sure, it's gonna be great.

So yeah, the entry process into real estate is overwhelming. Yeah, it's uncomfortable. It should be. So when you come to the forums and talk to people who have been there and done that, come correct. Don't come with your hand out and your nose up. You're the new kid. You ain't all that.