All Forum Posts by: Joe Colasuonno

Nice. Looks like you did well with this one. COC is low because you put 30% down and did reno out of pocket. Good deal nonetheless. That 1 bed rent at $885 is strong. Congrats

@Darius Ogloza not the case in this situation. While Allentown does have some rougher areas, he didnt buy at a terrible price for the market, and his property manager seems to be inept coming from someone who operates here and was 100% occupied all through covid.

Also, if a car hit the front porch/patio.  Did you get a copy of the police report (or was there not one?)  If you didn't, you still can.  Car insurance should cover repairs.

Charles,  you need a different property manager.  I self manage about 400 units in Allentown, and it has never been easier to rent apartments than it was during Covid.  There is no reason a unit should sit vacant for 4 months.  It makes no sense.  If I read correctly and it was not a typo, you said you booked a mason for NEXT October?????!  You need a better property manager with experience.  Try calling Spade Property Management. They may be able to help.  If not them, then Steel City Realty maybe.

Zach,

I've been heavily invested in Allentown for 10 years now.  Started buying in 2010 and have around 400 units now.  I love the city and there are tons of positive metrics that make it great for real estate investors.   There is definitely lots of competition here though.

Joe

Was thinking about this over the weekend.  Your property likely had many years of deferred maintenance.  You need to get caught up on that entirely and it may take some time.  Once you do, you'll be in a good position with the property, and you'll be happy you kept it.  You're always going to have issues when renting property out, the longer you go taking care of problems, the less problems you'll have.  I say you stick it out.

John, 

I have about 400 rentals in Allentown. Its an old housing stock. Most buildings are over 100 years old and come with significantly more maintenance issues than newer housing. Compound that most of the buildings have had a ton of deferred maintenance over the years and they are a lot more expensive to run maintenance wise than most people think. I budget $2000 per unit per year in maintenance, capex, repairs etc for single family rows in Allentown and I have my own full time maintenance guys to do the work.  Paying subcontractors or your property management company’s subs to do the work will be more expensive.

How many sqft is the house?

I use Alliance Property Transfer. Ask for Bill and tell them Joe sent you.

No it should not affect value at all

Try Spade Property Management.