All Forum Posts by: Joshuam R.

I am a property manager in Philly. We work with a lot of C Class units and some D Class as well. It's tough work. Tough to find quality tenants. Tough to send quality contractors and showing agents into these areas. Tough to navigate the tenant-friendly regulatory environment. 

That said- higher risk can result in higher return. Dollar for dollar the investors that are getting the best (and worst) returns are those working in these areas. If done right- you can make a better return than you can with A Class and B Class rentals.

I personally invest in some D Class because I'm confident that we can mitigate some of the risk with quality management processes and familiarity with the broken Philly regulatory environment.

@Joshuam R. I wholeheartedly agree and have thought this exact same thing. Thanks for voicing it!

I just listed my first unit for rent yesterday, so I'm new to processing applications. One applicant is an Army Recruiter and has requested not to complete a background check online and states he has "secret security clearance". Has anyone else encountered something similar? How would you respond to this? Everything else in the application looks good upon first glance, but I haven't had a chance to start verifying info yet. Would a response like "I understand and respect this, but to protect myself and my business, a background check is required" would be appropriate? 

@Joshuam R. I whole heartedly agree. And I say this knowing I would be targeted oh-so-much by those pumping BS that I so energetically rattle and call-out. 

We have an up-vote for when persons find our content helpful, entertaining, connecting what-not. Seems a bit biased to have a singular option, right? If can rate someone's content good, why not bad? 

Maybe a counter for each? An up-vote counter AND down-vote counter???? True clarity. 

 You'd have to be nuts to think people are on this website sharing knowledge without an ulterior motive that benefits them.

What tends to annoy me is when the OPs, posting in an open forum like the ones here on BP, act as if they own the thread, and only contributions that directly address their question should be allowed in the discussion.  As if the thread exists purely and only for one person's benefit.

Especially when the OP has something like a hundred posts and ten likes, as well as a history of posting similar questions in similar ways. That's when I mutter unkind things at the screen involving the OP's lack of capital, lack of vision, lack of IQ, female canines, certain aspects of incest, that sort of thing.

I don't know about all of you, but I will do my best to answer questions that show the OP has made at least a basic effort to find an answer before throwing it out here for the community to answer. Other than that, I'm writing for the community, not one person. I'm no one's monkey.

You want your basic answers, there's a wealth of information out there, and a lot of it is right here on BiggerPockets in the guides and podcasts. You want general cheerleading, invest in a motivational speaker's collection of talks.

I remain convinced that a very large part of doing well in real estate is learning the hard answers to some hard questions by yourself. There is no royal road to success that works for everyone, despite the claims of various gurus and self-promoting experts. In large part, you have to find your own way in this business, and it's not going to be easy. It just isn't.

And yet, the BiggerPockets forums are the one and only place in pretty much all of the REI industry, where you can ask a well-thought-out question and get something other than self-promotion in response by a stranger (and not infrequently a stranger whose net worth and technical know-how is substantial) who's actually been there and done it. I've met people I could barely believe would reach out to me through these forums and then in real life. And then I've done deals with them, and benefited hugely from their experience. Where else does that ever happen?

So that's a large part of what's important to me about these forums.

Haha! 

I totally agree with what's been said here. It's no secret that some people hop onto forums just to boost their stats and get attention with a flashy signature line. Honestly, I never really thought about it that way, but I guess it makes sense to keep answers concise to boost ones stats just for the vanity metrics.

But you know what bugs me? It's when people ask the same old questions or ones they could easily find answers to with a bit of research. You've probably seen it too, like those posts asking about turnkey rentals or whether to buy a house next door without doing any groundwork.

There's a famous saying that goes, "The quality of your answers is directly related to the quality of your questions." And I totally get that, except for questions that have been asked a zillion times before. Still, I think it would be better if we had more back-and-forth discussions here instead of just one-off questions and quick tips. I'll always open to help just as long as someone has done the homework and asking specific questions... the question after the first question basically.

Thanks for the reply, Bill. Good point on the principal part of my mortgage payment. It was $216 this past payment, so looking at it from your perspective, I may be $150 short cash flow-wise, but I'm actually making money when I consider that I'm paying off $216+ each month. (Perspectives like this are why BP is so valuable!!!)

However, with the 2023 tax increase, I'm going to be around $300 short on cash flow each month, unless I can successfully protest some of the tax increase. So let's call it $280 short each month this year. I won't hit that amount on the amortization schedule until year 5. (I just got the loan in January.)

I'm not sure I follow when you said, "Would it really change anything big picture if you had an extra $151/mo coming in? If so, then sell now! Otherwise imagine how many things could cost you more than $1,800/mo."

As for rent increases, a 5% rent increase takes $1625 to $1706 and another 5% increase takes it to $1792. If making positive cash flow is my goal, (and I think you're telling me to look at the bigger picture instead), then I need to be at $2015/month this year just to break even on cash flow. With annual tax increases, I may be chasing positive cash flow for years! And that's my concern.