All Forum Posts by: Kyle McCorkel

Lower tenant pool due to area. Brie - by the way, I just listened to the BP podcast you were on and loved it!

Here is the situation: $40K Single family short sale, been on the market for over a year. Seems in decent shape (will check it out soon). Checked with property manager, would rent for$850-$950. Schools are decent, not great, and relatively low crime. Working class neighborhood. I'd give it C+. This property meets the 2% rule which is hard to find in my area. Cash flow is great (if rented). Here's the thing, when I asked PM about tenant pool, he said it's pretty poor, meaning it will be hard to find many qualified candidates in that area. So here's the question: how much should I care about that? Do I factor in a higher vacancy % than normal? Do I factor in higher eviction costs? Lowering my standards for tenants (and asking my PM to lower theirs) doesn't seem like the right thing. Thoughts or advice on how to view this potential opportunity? Thanks!

Quick estimate - rentometer.com More detailed analysis - property manager. The reason people are saying rentometer is inaccurate is the application searches within a mile(ish) radius of the property and gives you average rent for x amount of bedrooms. So maybe you have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1500 sq ft townhouse and you do the search and it will include 2 bed, 1 bath, 800 sq ft apartments, which will give you a lower average rent. You can take this into account on rentometer because you can see each individual data point on the map. So in the above example, you can look at the townhouse next door and disregard the apartments.

House hack - buy a duplex using FHA financing and rent out one side, live in the other. My brother did that in Denver and is making a killing after moving out and renting both sides.

Welcome! I am from Hershey but spend a significant amount of time in Pittsburgh because my wife's family is from there.

Got it. I was wondering because although I live in Hershey I find myself looking in the surrounding areas (for investments) because Hershey home prices are relatively high. I'm aggressively shooting for the 2% rule, so I end up looking in Palmyra, Hummelstown, some parts of Harrisburg, Middletown, Elizabethtown, etc. PM me and let me know if I can help... I definitely know the area.

Hi Robert - I live in Hershey. I use Preferred Realty in Elizabethtown and I think they are good and know what they are doing, but they are terribly unresponsive to email (which is important to me). I've been interviewing Harrisburg Property Management Group and am thinking of using them for my next property, but I obviously don't have direct experience with them yet. So, neither one is a slam dunk recommendation for you, but at least gets you some data points. I'm curious what draws you to invest in Hershey while you live in New Jersey?

Check out Craigslist! Just search for keyword "seller finance" or "owner finance". Also, even if it doesn't specifically say seller finance, it doesn't hurt to ask. I'm going to check out a property tomorrow that I found on Craigslist.

Central PA folks: does anybody have a good property manager that they would recommend for Harrisburg? I'm looking at a 6 unit building in Uptown and want to line up a good manager before putting in an offer.

The townhouse was just another good deal. I had less to invest as a down payment so that was a factor as well. To be honest, the more I learn about "creative financing" and the more I investigate properties in the area I think multi-units are the way to go. Better cash on cash returns, among other reasons. Also, as a general strategy, I'm using property managers for the multi's. I just don't have the time (not to mention the experience). The one I'm using for my first property is working well so far.