All Forum Posts by: Paul De Luca

I agree with @Tchaka Owen, it sounds like you should consider focusing on studying REI and educating yourself further. I also recommend talking to a realtor and lender. After experience, applied knowledge is going to give you the confidence you need to pursue opportunity. The key is to be prepared.

Welcome Michael!

I am also currently living in Berwyn while house hacking a duplex and will be closing on another one here soon. My background is CRE property management, specifically industrial and office however if you are interested in residential property management I recommend you check out GC Realty. What else do you plan to do besides property management?

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM. Happy to help!

Hi Juwan,

I assume there is no duct work or boiler already, correct? If the window unit is the only existing source of heating & cooling I would suggest speaking with several HVAC contractors for advice.

Well done! That's a great return. Roughly how much did the renovation cost?

@David Kohler We will probably setup an LLC for each property, but I'm not sure of the logistics of transferring them. I definitely need to talk to an attorney about that.

Hi Jason,

If you haven't already, I would first suggest you get your finances in order by tracking all income & expenses and create a budget. You can't really invest in real estate unless you have adequate money to invest. Second, you should be educating yourself on real estate investing through books, podcasts, articles, blog posts here on BP and elsewhere, and by networking with other local investors. Third, figure out what value you can offer to others. What useful skills do you have? Do you have time to hustle by finding deals and managing the properties?

Good luck!

Thanks to @Zack Karp I'm following that exact strategy he described with the Home Possible loans. Since I'm house hacking with my brother, I bought the first property using Home Possible in my name and now my brother is under contract to purchase our next one in his name also using Home Possible. Then, we'll each be using our FHA eligibility to pick up 2 more properties in the next two years.

The value of having a partner to invest with can't be overstated. Find a friend, family member, partner, etc to invest with and you'll be able to accomplish more with less money.

Hi Laura,

Yes, I would suggest you have the tenants sign new leases agreements so you can lay out your terms and conditions so there is no misunderstanding of what is expected. As for increasing the rents, it depends on how they compare to market rents. Are the rents below market, at market, or above market? If below market, gradual increases in rents would lower the likelihood that your tenants will leave. If you try to significantly raise rents all at once, you should be prepared for a few of the tenants to leave.

Whether you decide to raise rents or not, I suggest you stagger the lease expirations with the new leases so all three of them don't expire at the same time which will reduce your risk.

An easy way to view all of your most recent posts would be helpful, unless there is already a way to do that and I'm just not aware. Also, I feel like a good addition to BP Insights would be statistics and historical trends on how real estate is correlated with wealth. Example would be what % of people's wealth is typically in real estate, a way to view national and local property values dating back to when they started tracking, 

Hey Cody,

In addition to the above replies, I recommend using Cozy to screen your tenants. It's a free service, and you can easily have your tenants apply online through their portal. You can also have your applicants complete background and credit checks through their system. Cozy also allows you to advertise your rental, which automatically syndicates to several listing websites. There's a lot of perks.