All Forum Posts by: Paulette Midgette

I am sorry to hear that so many of you have had similar experiences to mine with contractors.  I believe in Karma and I know that their behavior will not go unchecked!

@Wayne Brooks, you are incorrect in your statement, at least in my case.  Have you had a similar experience and filed a claim?

Thank you BP family for your support, sentiments, and suggestions.  These things happen, the world is imperfect and the world if full of us things called human.  I have learned a lot from this situation which I will take into not only my investing business but my life overall.  

As RE developers we all know how important it is to hire good, reliable residential contractors. Because we are dependant, for the most part, on word of mouth recommendations it is vital that our recommendations are valid. This is true for me anyway. I am still living in the past, where your word is your reputation and your reputation is your character. Therefore, I want to let the community here know about a residential contractor I would never recommend.

Let me start by saying I did my homework...checked him out thoroughly. Handy Pro Connection, LLC (Cyrus Gordon) came to me via a recommendation. The company is based out of Sicklerville, NJ but also works in Philadelphia, where he was born and raised. I checked the Better Business Bureau for complaints, I checked the NJ State Attorney General consumer division to ensure he was licensed, I checked every reference he gave by visiting sites and speaking with the homeowners. All good, he got the job and started on May, 10, 2018.

To make a long story short. On Thursday, July 12 my contractor stopped communicating with me. Now, we are 11 weeks into an 8 week job and he has abandoned the job with 75% of the money and only 50% of the work done. HOW Did That Happen? A week into the job he was still demoing an 1100 square foot row home in Philly. This was not a complete rehab, we were keeping the main bath, moulding, and original dooors. New windows, kitchen, basement bath and adding a storage room/pantry in the basement. At that point my project manager (and partner) started pushing him. He made promises and progress, albeit, slowly. June rolls in and the work was still not where we needed it to be. At that time we started looking for a new contractor. But this is Philly and contractors are hard to come by. We found two contractors and the bid we received to finish the work were higher than the bid we contracted to complete the entire rehab! So, we felt we had no choice but to stick with this guy.

Move on to the end of June. Progress is still not acceptable. I had a heart-to-heart with the contractor and made it clear what our expectations were and no more money (he was asking for a second payment of a three payment contract) would come his way. He claimed if he didn't get the money he could not buy supplies to complete the job, which would be done in a week(I knew this wasn't true). I was going on vacation, so I arranged for my partner to give him half the second payment for supplies only. When I returned from vacation I learned my partner gave him the full second payment! I immediately went to the project and took the contractor to the store to buy all of our supplies. Two days later my partner went to the house, no supplies, no workers. Our countertop people are there looking for their payment.

Cyrus Gordon, made promises he did not keep. He took money and spent it on God knows what. He abandoned the job. Most of the work he has done so far needs to be redone. Some of the materials we choose and asked him to pick up (such as flooring) he replaced with low quality materials, I assume to keep more of our money for himself. I have filled a complaint against him with the Better Business Bureau and the NJ State Attorney General. I have also filed a claim against his insurance company with hope of getting at least our monies from the contract back.

Please beware if you run into Handy Pro Connection, LLC. This guy is a liar, a cheat...very untrustworthy.

As RE developers we all know how important it is to hire good, reliable residential contractors.  Because we are dependant, for the most part, on word of mouth recommendations it is vital that our recommendations are valid.  This is true for me anyway.  I am still living in the past, where your word is your reputation and your reputation is your character.  Therefore, I want to let the community here know about a residential contractor I would never recommend.

Let me start by saying I did my homework...checked him out thoroughly. Handy Pro Connection, LLC (Cyrus Gordon) came to me via a recommendation. The company is based out of Sicklerville, NJ but also works in Philadelphia, where he was born and raised. I checked the Better Business Bureau for complaints, I checked the NJ State Attorney General consumer division to ensure he was licensed, I checked every reference he gave by visiting sites and speaking with the homeowners. All good, he got the job and started on May, 10, 2018.

To make a long story short.  On Thursday, July 12 my contractor stopped communicating with me.  Now, we are 11 weeks into an 8 week job and he has abandoned the job with 75% of the money and only 50% of the work done.  HOW Did That Happen?  A week into the job he was still demoing an 1100 square foot row home in Philly.  This was not a complete rehab, we were keeping the main bath, moulding, and original dooors.  New windows, kitchen, basement bath and adding a storage room/pantry in the basement.  At that point my project manager (and partner) started pushing him.  He made promises and progress, albeit, slowly.  June rolls in and the work was still not where we needed it to be. At that time we started looking for a new contractor.  But this is Philly and contractors are hard to come by.  We found two contractors and the bid we received to finish the work were higher than the bid we contracted to complete the entire rehab!  So, we felt we had no choice but to stick with this guy.

Move on to the end of June.  Progress is still not acceptable.  I had a heart-to-heart with the contractor and made it clear what our expectations were and no more money (he was asking for a second payment of a three payment contract) would come his way.  He claimed if he didn't get the money he could not buy supplies to complete the job, which would be done in a week(I knew this wasn't true).  I was going on vacation, so I arranged for my partner to give him half the second payment for supplies only.  When I returned from vacation I learned my partner gave him the full second payment!  I immediately went to the project and took the contractor to the store to buy all of our supplies.  Two days later my partner went to the house, no supplies, no workers.  Our countertop people are there looking for their payment. 

Cyrus Gordon, made promises he did not keep.  He took money and spent it on God knows what.  He abandoned the job. Most of the work he has done so far needs to be redone.  Some of the materials we choose and asked him to pick up (such as flooring) he replaced with low quality materials, I assume to keep more of our money for himself. I have filled a complaint against him with the Better Business Bureau and the NJ State Attorney General.  I have also filed a claim against his insurance company with hope of getting at least our monies from the contract back.    

Please beware if you run into Handy Pro Connection, LLC. This guy is a liar, a cheat...very untrustworthy.

I have found the best rate in Philly with Progressive.

@Gary Sanchez, may I suggest you and "we" sit down and discuss your future goals for real estate investing.  You have already started your real estate investing by purchasing your first home and increasing the value.  Do you want to use the money from a potential sale to buy a property in Indiana?  Or maybe you can use the money to buy two properties in Indiana, one you live in the other you rent.  Maybe you rent the home in Philadelphia.  Depending on the area you are in, on average single families rent for $1250 per month at a minimum in Philly.  Expenses are pretty low on single family rentals, tenants pay all utilities, you pay taxes and a management company fee if you decided to hire someone.

After setting your goals, I would suggest you research the rental market and the cost of renting in both cities. I believe you have many options but you first need to know where you are, where you want to be, and map out a route of  how to get to your final destination.

@Erin Kilrain

I have been a landlord in Philadelphia off and on since the late 80's.  I have only had 3 management companies, but not one of them charge a lease renewal fee.  I wonder if this is something new.  I pay 7% management fee with the company I am currently with.  I negotiated this fee based on the fact they were the listing agency for the property I purchased.

Maybe consider having your tenants roll over to a month-month or get a new management company.

Hi @Account Closed, I am happy to hear things worked out well for you.  Once the squatter is out you will need to file in small claims court to get recover the money owed.  

Hi @Bob Williams, when you state you are looking at Mt. Airy are you talking West, East, or Cedarbrook (which historically is part of East Mt. Airy).  You also said you were considering West Oak Lane.  I would suggest you include East Oak Lane (which is next door to Cedarbrook) as well.  I think what you are looking for are neighborhoods right on the border between Montgomery County (Glenside) and Philly County.  I live on the Philly side 3 blocks from the Cedarbrook Plaza.

This entire area is a little tricky.  It is a challenge to determine market values in this area.  Take a look, you will see asking prices and sale prices all over the map.  I am not sure why.  Maybe it is the mix of the type of housing...rows right behind twins, twins right behind singles, multifamily at the ends of the rowhome blocks, etc.  

I will say, I believe that many of the asking prices in the area are exaggerated.  But I don't see this changing with the onslaught of investors in the area.  I know you have access to private money, be prepared to spend well over 100k for anything you find in these areas.

@Stephanie D., Join HAPCO, link below.  It is well worth the $125 annual fee.  You can hire a lawyer through them to represent you in Landlord tenant court.  There is a sliding scale fee but I am sure the fee is much cheaper than you would pay your own lawyer.

http://hapcoassoc.com/