All Forum Posts by: Dallas Martin

Nice work @Brian Foy.  Looking for my first deal in the 'burgh as well.

@James Syed - I was thinking about targeting retirees as well.  In my county I can purchase a CD that contains the details of every property.  I'm hoping one of the fields it contains will be age or birth date of the owners but I will know for sure when the CD arrives.  If nothing else, the owners address might be a clue too as I live in Pennsylvania and many people move to Florida or somewhere else in the south upon retiring.

@Robbie Reutzel - I hadn't thought about digging through evictions.  I'll have to look into how to get a list of those in my area.  Thanks for the tip.  

And good to know there are motivated landlords as well that will respond to mailers :-)

Does direct mail work as well on small multi-family properties as it does on SFR? I'm considering doing a direct mail campaign for my target area to absentee owners of 2-4 unit multi-family properties. I'm hoping to find either retirees looking to get out of the business, new landlords who have realized it isn't for them, or other investors who need to sell to reap some sort of tax benefit. I'm just wondering if direct mail is effective at reaching these potential sellers.

I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to thank everyone for the replies in here. You all have answered so many questions I've had since recently starting my search for my first multi-family. I was getting a little frustrated with the MLS results in my area and have been considering doing some direct marketing. I now have a lot of great suggestions and ideas to get me going!

Thanks for the information Justin.  I'm just starting out investing in Pittsburgh and had no idea that only brokers can be property managers in PA.  Does that mean manager costs are higher in PA than elsewhere?

Guess I'll be learning the property management side of things when I get to that point.

I've been living in Pittsburgh for 11 years now and can confirm that it has a solid job market.  The tech industry has replaced most of the old vanguard steel makers and manufacturing companies, although some of them are still around.  There are many startups here due in part to the universities such as Pitt and CMU.  And with big names such as Google and Uber moving in within the last decade, it really draws in the crowds.

Hi Gary.  Thanks for the response.  I just sent you a private message.

Hi Sam.  Thanks for the information regarding local meetups. I'll have to check them out sometime.

I'm a new investor in the Pittsburgh area. I've been a lurker on BP for a while now, mostly reading blog posts and articles to educate myself on the many facets of REI. After many years of contemplating investing in real estate, I'm finally ready to take the plunge. I'm interested in connecting with other investors in my area to share information and opinions about lenders, brokers/agents, attorneys, accountants, and market conditions.

Dallas