All Forum Posts by: David Simon

I am inviting anyone interested in real estate investing to the second South Jersey Standing Real Estate Networking Event on October 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Double Nickel Brewery in Pennsauken.

The first meetup was great. We had a few people from SJREIA, a few who learned about the meeting from BiggerPockets, and a few people I cajoled out for the event. But I want to keep it growing. The more perspectives represented, the better it will be,

This event is for people who want to network and chat about all facets of real estate investing. Most meetups involve an educational component or a sales pitch, such as a speaker or presentation on a product. The “Standing” meeting has none of that. What it has is you and people like you who want to network, share experiences and do deals. In fact, at the “Standing” meetup, don’t sit down and get comfortable talking to the person next to you; move about the room and talk to as many people as you find interesting. No one will tell you to take your seat for a salesperson to pitch you a new product.

Sometimes the best deal is just outside your comfort area. Once a month, come ready to chat with anyone and everyone who wants to further his or her real estate investment career and do deals.

Attached is a flyer for the event. Kindly RSVP if you'd like to attend.

David M. Simon

Welcome to the forums. I'm pretty new as well. I live in South Jersey but my first property was (and still is) in Bella Vista in South Philly. It's a constant performer and the neighborhood is still being developed. And Jersey has offerings as well. Best of luck.

@Mario Gonzalez I’m in South Jersey and there’s decent stock of multi-family that will cash flow. But the Lehigh Valley and Lancaster MSA in PA seem to be quite hot these days. There’s deals all around the region if you get out and look.

I am looking to Brrrr a duplex in South Jersey. I've found a property that I like at what seems like a good price. But in order to make a Brrrr work, I want some comps to see what I think I can refinance at later. Otherwise, I'm just guessing when it comes to budgeting. But using realtor.com or trulia doesn't help, because they can't find any comps in the area that recently sold.

Is there another way to search for comps that I can do on my own? Or should I just expand my search our geographically until I find similar properties? I want to use a method that will approximate what a bank's appraiser will use, but I don't know what technique such a person would employ. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I've used brother Rick & Tom Vandzura with Construx. They were great. They worked on a South Philly row house for me a while back. I can provide contact info, if you need. http://www.goconstrux.com/.

I am inviting anyone interested in real estate investing to the first South Jersey Standing Real Estate Networking Event on September 11, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. at the Double Nickel Brewery in Pennsauken, NJ.

This event is for people who want to network and chat about all facets of real estate investing. Most meetups involve an educational component or a sales pitch, such as a speaker or presentation on a product. The “Standing” meeting has none of that. What it has is you and people like you who want to network, share experiences and do deals. In fact, at the “Standing” meetup, don’t sit down and get comfortable talking to the person next to you; move about the room and talk to as many people as you find interesting. No one will tell you to take your seat for a salesperson to pitch you a new product.

I’ll try to make it a standing reservation for the second Tuesday of every month. Sometimes the best deal is just outside your comfort area. Once a month, come ready to chat with anyone and everyone who wants to further his or her real estate investment career and do deals. 

Please RSVP by September 7th if you plan to attend.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26...

Just read this article and found it interesting. Up front, it states:

The U.S. housing market -- particularly in cutthroat areas like Seattle, Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas -- appears to be headed for the broadest slowdown in years. Buyers are getting squeezed by rising mortgage rates and by prices climbing about twice as fast as incomes, and there’s only so far they can stretch.

“This could be the very beginning of a turning point,” said Robert Shiller, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who is famed for warning of the dot-com and housing bubbles, in an interview. He stressed that he isn’t ready to make that call yet.

I'm a fairly new investor in Philadelphia/South Jersey with two properties and one under contract. I'm curious if people out there are getting this feeling, and where you're located. It's never easy to know when we're at the peak of a housing cycle. But I'm curious if there are any desirable markets that are becoming more affordable. Maybe now is the time to buy a bit harder, because things always seem to go back up eventually.

Welcome to the community!

I have two properties and use QuickBooks, with a separate book for each one. And I have my own small business unrelated to real estate and have another file for that in Quickbooks. As was mentioned before, there is certainly a learning curve. My accountant sat down with me early on and taught me the basics. And that was well worth the time. I've never found a book that helps all that much, but if anyone has a suggestion for that, I'd love to know it.

As far as saving receipts, I rarely do. I save invoices from service providers like contractors, plumbers, etc. Those I scan in and have a file on my computer. But for random trips to HomeDepot, I just enter the info into QuickBooks and toss the receipt. I figure my credit card statement retains the transaction amount, so I figure that will cover me.