All Forum Posts by: Nicholas R Paust

Right now around west ward area of Easton, southside Bethlehem and Allentown city.  I will check into hotpad and marketplace as another source.  I've heard of people checking with property managers, but just assumed they wouldn't provide info if I wasn't using their services.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what are the current rent rates in my market, which is Lehigh valley.  My three main methods that I use currently are rentometer, comps from my realtor, and apartments.com. All of the data that I receive seems to be old.  It just seems like the demand is changing quick, and I can't get an accurate measure on what things should be.  What else would you suggest?

Thanks again for all of the responses.  Unfortunately, since I waived the inspection on the property and purchased as is since it had a clear CO from my city I have to absorb the cost.  The good thing is that I have a cheap way out and with the housing demand I don't know how much the tenants will care.   As for long term I know I'll have to consider having them separated to keep things simple.

Thank you for the responses.  I have 5 day contingency to review the existing lease, So I might use this to challenge the seller since I waived the inspections and this was unknown.  I did yet the house 2k under asking price and an appraisal has not been done yet.  The only thing I was thinking about last night about controlling the thermostat is that I would have to have my own WIFI which would also come at an additional expense.  I'm just curious that when the super controls the heat/ac how do you satisfy people that say it to hot or cold?  Otherwise I guess I just make this transparent in the lease that its controlled temperature and billed based on the size of the apartment as suggested.

Hello,

I wanted to know what others did in this situation.  I'm under agreement for a 2 unit multifamily house.  The house has unit 1 on the entire first floor and unit 2 occupies the second and third floor.  Unit 1 has the thermostat that controls the gas heat for unit 1 and just the first floor of unit 2.  Unit 2 on the third floor has window units for heat/ac.  I'm wondering what I can do at this point?  Do I just put a lock on the nest thermostat an control the heat myself and deal with the tenants if its to hot or cold?  Do I just have unit 1 pay the gas? which means unit 2 has to just rely on the electric windows units for comfort?  I thought about just blocking the vents on the second floor, but it can mess up the air handler if I reduce the CFM its meant for? I'm open to suggestions

@Michael Casana What everyone else said is correct!  Have your funding ready, and be ready to provide a solid offer.  Myself personally I've been waiving inspections, and considered buying as-is in order to make a more appealing offer.  I've also seen a been change in comparing rents from 18month to 12months almost increase over 25%.  This makes some real estate look more appealing right now, but it might not stay forever.  

My current tenant uses Zelle.  Makes it easy for me to keep record of the transaction

@Ryan Chatman thanks this might be what I'm looking for.  I'll play around with it for a little and see how it works out for me.  I appreciate you offering this to me.

I'm just wondering from seasoned investors on what's your go to method for analyzing a property.  I'm currently looking for my second property and feel maybe I just got lucky on my first property since I didn't run any numbers.  My first investment was a turn key property that cost $124,500 I put 20% down and rents for $1550. I see people talking about the 1% rule, as well as the bigger pockets calculator.   I also listen to Mike Zuber author of one rental at a time talk about learning your market which is a course he has that includes a spreadsheet that tracks sales so you know what's a good/great deal in the area of the investment.  Any thoughts on any of these or open to other suggestions.   I'm trying to turn this into a business for something that I can do every day.  Not just save up and do research when I have a down payment.  THANKS   

So just an update and figured I would share with everyone.  I sent a notice to the tenant explaining they were past due on the rent the first month.  I sent out another notice the second month explaining the late fee's as well.  Except in the second letter I explained that the assistance they applied for is only a lottery and might not be received.  I also explained that I will continue filing even though they filed for assistance just to protect myself.  I finished the letter explained how long evictions can stay on your credit report, and how hard it is right now to find a rental at the price they're paying.   Literally after receiving the letter I got a text that they are making more money and paid the past two months with late fees, and prepaid rent for September as well.  If I had to guess they just wanted to try to get free rent, but ended up not working in their favor.  Hopefully a lesson learned for them