All Forum Posts by: Matt Bertsch

Awesome work, @Sean Mcevoy! Keep up the great work...best of luck!

Welcome to BP, @Ralph Trinidad! I am local to the Lehigh Valley and I am interested in flips and multifamily properties. I'd be interested in what you have to offer from the financial side. 

@Travis Houck Welcome to the BP family! I am located in Pennsylvania too, specifically the Lehigh Valley, and I am focusing on flips and value-add Multifamily. In my opinion one of the best actions you can take is to network, network, network. Whether it be on BP or in person. Join a local meet-up! The more people you meet and are in front of, the better. You'll learn from other people's experiences, get to know agents, finance brokers, contractors, etc. These relationships are vital to your knowledge and business development! 

I know you mentioned you've watched a lot of youtube videos already but In case you need them, here are few things to check out as you work your way around the site:

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search/users

Set up some keyword alerts to notify you when members are discussing something that interests you. I use this a lot for location and topic based discussions: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Read Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Let me know if I can help you with anything else. Best of luck!

-MB

@Nick Loukas Welcome to the BP family! I am also located in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania and I focus on value-add Multifamily....Something to think about might be performing a few flips first. That will get you the experience with contractors and financing while also building your capital. It may be beneficial to flip 2 or 3 SFRs, gain the experience and capital and then jump into a 4-6 unit depending on how much money the flips churn. 

In case you need them, here are few things to check out as you work your way around the site:

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search/users

Set up some keyword alerts to notify you when members are discussing something that interests you. I use this a lot for location based discussions: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Read Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Check out the BP Podcasts. There's tons of great info in these: https://www.biggerpockets.com/podcast

Let me know if I can help you with anything else. Good Luck!

-MB

^^^AGREED^^^ Jake and @Gino Barbaro do a phenomenal job! Plus they share a lot of really good resources and have a terrific community. Check them out...https://jakeandgino.com/

@Ben Hudman, I live in a pretty hot and saturated market myself. To overcome this I am utilizing a few different methods. The first is direct mail to multi family property owners. In December I sent 400 mailers to property owners making them aware that I want to buy their property. The second method is expanding my network to improve my chances of landing an off market deal. I make it a point to talk real estate with at least 1 new person everyday (in person or online) and attend at least 1 meet-up a month but I just started attending a 2nd. This way I am in the company of other investors, real estate agents and wholesalers and I am developing those relationships. The more people who know what you're looking to do the more likely you are to have an actual deal brought to you. Lastly, I have changed my model a little...In my market there is good potential for flipping single family homes so I've decided to work on a few until the right multi comes along. This allows me to build up my capital, develop a bigger network and portfolio book and build a better reputation so when the time comes for a good multifamily deal I am in good position possible to land it. I hope this helps. Best of luck!

Sean... Welcome to the BP family! I am located in Pennsylvania, specifically the Lehigh Valley, and I focus on value-add Multifamily...Here are few things to check out as you work your way around the site. Below that you'll find more answers to your questions

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search/users

Set up some keyword alerts to notify you when members are discussing something that interests you. I use this a lot for location based discussions: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Read Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Check out the BP Podcasts. There's tons of great info in these: https://www.biggerpockets.com/podcast

Determining the ARV is going to depend on the property type of which you're looking. If it's a commercial property the property value is determined by it's Net Operating Income (NOI) and Cap Rate. The Cap Rate is determined by the type and condition of your property in your particular area. If you're looking at a residential property (single family home or multifamily with 1-4 units) than your ARV will be determined based on comps in the area. What I do in those situations is look up comparable properties to mine on the MLS or Zillow and see what those comps are currently selling for. This will give you an idea of what your property will sell for after rehab.

To estimate your repairs I would recommend either contacting a local contractor you can you trust to help or buy The Book On Estimating Rehab Costs by J Scott. BP is actually running on special on that right now I believe. I have it and it's awesome

Vacancies will vary per area...a quick internet search for your particular market will help with this but as a rule of thumb you can budget 10% of your property's income

CAP Ex and Maintenance can also vary depending on how much work you put into your rehab on the front end, but be conservative with your budget so you don't get caught with a costly expense you're not expecting. Again a good rule of thumb is to appropriate 10% of your income. I use 10% for both CapEx and Maintenance combined.

I hope this helps and let me know if I can help you with anything else. Good luck

@Mark John so far it’s been sellers who all wanted a price point too high to make a deal work for me.

They haven't raised taxes in over 13 years...it was bound to happen. We saw something similar in South Whitehall Township a few years ago when they increased taxes for the first time in about 30 years. That was a tax increase of 36%! The following year they increased another 11% and then froze. That kind of increase will certainly get property owners attention. 

@Justin Brown Sounds like it was all the Mayor's idea as City Council purposed  a lower increase

@David Ribardo, I am sure some of that cost will be passed onto to the tenants. 

Here is the article The Morning Call posted: https://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-nws-...

@Andrew Konopelsky and @Neil Russell, 

I am also in the Lehigh Valley...Welcome to the BP family! In case you need them, here are few things to check out as you work your way around the site:

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search/users

Set up some keyword alerts to notify you when members are discussing something that interests you. I use this a lot for location based discussions: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Read Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Check out the BP Podcasts. There's tons of great info in these: https://www.biggerpockets.com/podcast

Definitely check out @Justin Brown 's meet-up. It's good stuff!

Let me know if I can help you with anything else. Good luck

-MB