All Forum Posts by: Neil Metzger

My experience doing property management in Pittsburgh was this.....

You 1st have to get them written notification that they are late. I believe you can do this when they hit the 10 days late mark. The notice gives them 5 days to pay, and if they don't pay, you can file for an eviction. If they do not pay, you go to the district office for that jurisdiction (most of our rentals were in Rochester/New Brighton/Monaca) and fill out a form, pay a fee, and wait. They will send a notice in the mail to the tenant and landlord on the court date. Usually this was about 30 days. At the court date, if they are found in breach, they have 10 days to pay in full or move out. After this 10 day period you can call the magistrate and have the locks changed. Practical experience for us was about 60 days from the time the 1st notice was posted to getting them out. 

@Jeff Rabinowitz

Thank you for the advice, I did a search for transactional lenders and found that most of them cater to the back to back transaction type. I'll keep digging and see what is out there. 

Newbie question alert......

Hello all, hopefully this is the correct forum to ask this question. I just finished up a flip in Pittsburgh and am impatiently forced to wait to close with the buyer till 10/7. I have identified my next acquisition target. Is there any type of financial package out there that will enable us to use the equity we have in the house under contract, which we own free and clear - sales contract is for 171,500 - to get some type of funding now? In my old business of reselling technology we could receive an invoice and use a factoring company, They would buy the receivable less a monthly factoring fee. Does the same concept exist in real estate? I know its only 36 days to wait, but I am cash BROKE at this point after doing the 1st one on my own. 

Thanks in advance - neil

@Wassie G., I cannot speak 1st hand about those specific areas, but I can tell you that downtown Pittsburgh, as well as areas to the West - New Brighton, Rochester, Beaver, do VERY well. 

Kevin,

I had the same issue; Washington DC is nearly as expensive as LA. Ended up in Pittsburgh, and you are correct, there are quite a few deals to be had for 30K that rent at ~800. They may require some maintenance, but not excessive amounts. We ended up flipping our 1st property; purchased for 30, 90 renovation, 171.5 sales price. Pittsburgh is weird with its neighborhoods though; our house was within a couple blocks of some very rough neighborhoods with some very cheap 8-10K properties for sale. Trick is learning the ins and outs of the neighborhoods. 

Anyway, we are looking to BRRR, I have about 5 targets that are in the cheaper parts of the better neighborhoods. I am interested in partnering to. I am in the process of setting up Appfolio and a website to do rentals, I have a rehab team and an office manager ready to engage. I am new to real estate (but not property management) and was in the process of searching for good sources of funds for BRRR. Let me know if you would like to discuss partnering up on some rentals here.

Rick, I found them on Zillow, looking for for sale by owner properties. There are quite a few where the owner owns them outright, they need repair, and they are trying to unload them through a wholesalers. I feel your pain on the listing, time seems to creep by waiting for the agent to call and provide news.

@RickTruman, We just did the exact same thing. We listed at 185, knowing we were pushing the limit, then cut to 175 after 18 days. On Day 20 we got an offer and settled at 171.5. On the one hand, I hated giving up that much money, but on the other, I had to take the deal. We were still profitable, and being this was our 1st flip, I wanted to get some positive momentum going. In retrospect, we didn't do as good a job on finishing touches as we should have and I have no doubt that hurt us a bit. Long story, but I chalk it up to 1st time flip issues. So, we are actively looking for the 2nd one.

On the rentals, I am working on a package deal with a wholesaler. He has 3 properties all from the same owner. I am trying to get a deal worked out where we will purchase the properties very cheap, sign a contract that gives us 120 days to make a larger payment, and during the 1st 90 days rehab them, then on day 90 pull some equity out of them and use that cash to pay off the wholesaler. My fear, is that I don't know too much about companies like B2R that will do 70% LTV at the 90 day mark. Do they intentionally appraise values low? Or will they provide a fair valuation? My fear is being stuck with a bad appraisal and not pulling enough equity out on the refi to get the wholesaler paid off. So, researching that.

@TerryGillis - I bought it from an owner that had sat on it for about 18 months. They bought it at an auction back in 2014, then lost interest in it. The buy experience was easy, and very lucky - right place right time type of thing. 

As basic as it sounds, what I learned from doing the flip was to set a plan, stick to the plan, and not deviate from the plan. Sounds basic, and it is, but when you are doing the work it is so tempting to start adding things as you go. For us, that ended up delaying our time to market, and we listed in early August instead of early July. 

@AlexHobbs, that sounds like very good advice! 

HI Shaun, welcome. I am also new to this forum and to real estate. I just finished up a flip downtown and am looking for another flip, as well as good candidates for BRRRR. .

I am going to attend the ACRE meeting in Greentree a week from Tuesday. I agree with you on putting a premium on partnering. You are further along with this then I am, and congrats on the 3 properties. 

I am a DC native in Pittsburgh, decided a few months ago to finally jump in and try a house flip. I had run a property management company in Western PA for about a year and had gotten to know the basics of the rental business, and more importantly, met some very skilled tradesmen.  We bought a vacant property, completely renovated it, and are now waiting on what will hopefully be a quick offer. 

I am very interested in learning about strategies to buy, renovate, refinance, and rent properties long term. Flips are great, but building a portfolio of rental properties is more appealing to me from a long term financial standpoint. 

I am hoping to collaborate and learn as much as I can on this forum. I have a great crew of guys waiting on the next project, and there are quite a few opportunities in P'burgh to buy wholesale properties to renovate and rent.