All Forum Posts by: Joe Mulcahy

Yes.  I go to a subgroup in Montgomery county.  They are many groups in SE PA.  Join MEETUP.com and search on REAL ESTATE. There you can see which groups interest you and which ones are near you. 

Sure!  DIG is a Real estate investor group which hosts many REA groups.  They are a bunch of seasoned and newbie investors who get together monthly all over SE PA and discuss real estate.  They also offer classes.  They also have many discounts from real estate lawyer, flooring, home depot, sherwin williams just to name a few.  You can go the the first meeting FREE and then you have to joint to go to other meetings.  Another benefit is the answer line.  Ask questions and get answers to real estate questions. Google DIG investor group and check them out. 

I second that! Great post with some good advice. 

A HELOC or home equity line of credit is a loan using your personal house as credit. If you don't have any equity in your house, you can't get a HELOC. The amount of money you can take out with a HELOC is based on the amount of equity you have in your personal house. Say if you have a paid off house worth 100k, the bank will let you have 80k for whatever reason you want to use it for. Car, house vacation. Once you apply and have access to a HELOC, it is pretty much like cash. If you don't pay it back, the bank can take your house. A good strategy to use would be to buy your property including repair cost with your HELOC. Repair and rent out the house you purchased or Flip it. Then refinance your rental with conventional mortgage and pay your HELOC back. Then repeat. You can only get one HELOC per property. Good luck!

Hi Andrew! Yes i would use semi-gloss on doors and trim. Semi-gloss cleans up the easiest. A nice bright white would look best. Or if you are not going to paint all of the drywall, you might want to match what is already painted on the exsiting trim.  The drywall can be easily fixed by a little spakle. Don't apply it too thick because the thicker it is, the more sanding you have to do to smooth it out before painting.  Good luck! 

looks like a nice little project!  Good luck.  One suggestion for the paint would be to use a satin finish. Not as shiny as semi-gloss but can be cleaned (wiped down when they get dirty) unlike flat paint.  Also those brown lauan doors should be pretty cheap no matter where you get them (HD or Loews).  I don't thinks painting the stove or oven will work. If you are going to paint the cabinets and replace the counter tops, it might be a good idea to upgrade the stove top and oven to something modern.  "Kitchen and bathrooms" sells houses and I would suppose that would also apply to renting as well.   

Howdy Neighbor!  DIG is a great place to start.  Also go to Meetup.com for other REIAs in the area.  Welcome and good luck! i am sure i will see you at a few meetups.

Hi Mike! Joe here from Gilbertsville pa. I have a son going to UofD and was looking to buy some student rental down there to put him in. If you wholesale and come accoss any deals let me know.

Alex, i know where you are coming from. I had put in a bid on several properties and was getting shot down everytime. Offer too low.  Then i was getting PO'ed that i was not getting any properties. One more came up and got into a bidding war with myself. Long story short i overpayed about 10 k for the properties.  And i went in with no inspeciton.  House looked nice but was a lipstick pig.  Had new carpets and paint and that was about it.  Needs a new roof, windows, boiler didn't work, stove and a lot of little things. Anyway my make rent readyt rehab went from 5k to 12-15 k.  It will still cash flow just not as good as i thought it would. i have learned a lot though and i am glad i got into the game.  Good luck and as one guru quote i remeber is "The deal of the century happens once a week" 

i am no expert and i only have one rental property but i looked for contactor on Craigslist to install windows and replace a roof. Most don't show up. The ones who do show up look over the job but did not quote the job. I joined an orgination called DIG Diversified investment group. They have an "answer line" Which you can get answer to questions. I asked the group about contractors for windows and roof and found a good one. They are some seasoned investor and are very helpful with questions and are very willing to help out. Also your local REIA and DIG meetings are good as well. Ask investor their who they use. DIG has an anual fee of around 100 bucks.