All Forum Posts by: Joel Betances

Is a different town from where i have the other properties. About 1.5 hours away from each other. The town is called Plymouth.

Hello Bp Community,

Im in my 5th year of real estate investing in Pennsylvania. I have 3 homes managed by a property manager. As I was priced out of the area, I decided to look at other towns in Pennsylvania.

I bought a home in late October in Luzerne County for $83,500 and decided to manage on my own for the first time. I put $6000 into repairs, mostly paint, new light fixtures, new appliances, painting cabinets and fix a small leak coming from the roof. Took about 2 weeks to get the property rent ready. My issue is, it's been almost 3 months and I haven't be able to get good tenant applicants. The majority have evictions on their record, don't make enough income or have a lot of debt under their name.

Comparing other rentals on Zillow, my asking rent is $1100 while other properties are trying to rent at $1200. My properties also look a lot better than the other homes. Most of these properties have been sitting on the market for 30+ days.

Other possible issues is the hot air furnace is very old. It works but it was installed in 1967 so I need to prepare to replace it when it fails at some point. I have 3 windows as well that don't stay in the open position that I have to replace. I also have a mortgage on this property paying $683 a month.

Now I'm deciding should I continue waiting for a possible tenant or should I just sell the property. Comps in the last 30 days sold between 90,000-100,000.

Any advice on what you guys think would be the best thing to do?

hi everyone,

I just got accepted for a property and looking at the estimates, the closing cost seems a little high or is it just me. 
loan is for 68,000 at 6.625 interest rate. Closing cost $9,989

 Thank you so much guys. Will be reaching out to a attorney today 

I have not. Everything has been handled by the property management team. They just told me today when they found out and put a tarp to cover it. 

Hello BP members. I came upon a situation and need some advice. 
I bought a property 2 years ago that meets wall to wall with another property. This property used to be a duplex and the past owner decided to sell them separately since it’s 2 separate doors. 
The neighbor took down the porch roof which was also connected to my property leaving the side of my property exposed to the weather. The siding of my property has been removed and the inside wood now has mold on it. 

What are my choices in a situation like this. I’m assuming I need to file a police report but I’m not sure. 

@Mike Hern

Love your response. I will give her 60 day notice

@Scott M.

Thank you Scott. Will do this immediately

My tenant is about to hit the end of my 1 year lease. Great tenant that has paid on time until she lost her job 6 months into the lease.

I gave her 2 months to recover from her financial loss. She was able to get help from the rental assistant program that paid 6 months of her rent.

However now that the lease is about to end, the tenant is saying she will apply for unemployment and for another 6 months of rental assistance.

I am concerned about this because what took her so long to apply for unemployment and will unemployment pay her enough to cover the rent.

Her current rent is 1050 but market rent went up to about $1200.

Should I renew her lease or should I give her the 60 day notice to vacate, fix the unit up and rent it at market rate.

Thank you for all your responses.