All Forum Posts by: Ben Kiekel

This doesn't really seems like a legally valid ordinance, you might be able to get a local REI group together and challenge it either in court or Board of Supervisors meeting. There are some constitutional challenges that might be effective; this really reminds me of exclusionary zoning laws that tried to keep out low-income housing. Also, it seems very much like it takes all economically viable use of the property if it really prohibits that the property be rented for 3 years.

"Any property which has been subject to revocation of a Residential Rental License Permit under this Ordinance shall not be eligible for a new or renewal Residential Rental License Permit for a period not less than three (3) years."

It REALLY doesn't seem appropriate to hit the landlord/owner so hard for the actions of a tenant. Restricting the sale of a property strikes me as problematic as well. Even worse is that the ordinance prohibits the landlord/owner from getting a "Residential Rental License Permit" for any new properties for 3 years.

"Further, any landlord who has been subject to revocation of a Residential Rental License Permit under this Ordinance shall be deemed ineligible to hold () a Residential Rental License Permit for any new or additional rental property for a period not less than three (3) years."

I get that they want to deal with nuisance, it really can be a huge problem. But what do they think is going to happen when the house sits vacant for 3 YEARS! It's only going to create more problems than it solves in my opinion.

Hi Patricio Vargas, I also started getting into investing while I was in college. I opened a trading account and lost some money but it taught me TONS of valuable lessons that make me a more confident investor now. So great job for getting interested so early; hopefully you can make some good money and have some fun along the way.

Other members can probably give you good advice on how to start out on a budget. My recommendation is to spend some time reading up on this site and elsewhere and just generally soaking up investment strategies for a while. You'll have plenty of opportunities in your life and the earlier you start learning the more opportunities you'll be able to recognize. So you're well on your way to success in that area!

Good thought Jon; at this point I'm more comfortable with properties that aren't (hopefully) going to need as much oversight. Even if the purchase price to rent ratio is great if you end up spending lots of time, effort, and money to manage it then I can see it quickly becoming a problem.

Ali Boone thanks for that article post; it's pretty much along the lines of what I've been thinking that sometimes what works out on paper might equal headaches, trouble, and extra hours of my time to closely manage the property.

Dawn A., it's great to see those examples. Thanks for sharing them with me. I think it will be a very interesting/challenging ride once I start finding some target properties and negotiating with the sellers.

Thanks for the introduction John Moore; I've already met some great people and learned a lot from this site. That's a good idea to look into the local groups, I always like meeting new people and swapping ideas.

I see you're from the Poconos area; I just got tickets for the Indy race in Long Pond so I'm excited to check the area out and spend some time up there. Seems like a nice area!

Brandon Eleazer yeah it can be pretty steep around here. I'm not planning to stick around forever but it's nice to be close to the city.

J Scott and Dawn A. thanks guys! It makes complete sense that this would be dependent of the are and market prices. I am just starting to do research in this area because I haven't lived here for too long, but you're right Ned Carey, I wouldn't expect to find any properties where the numbers make sense in Bryn Mawr.

I'm a little bit intimidated by owning property in right in Philly though, so I'm looking into some of the suburbs a little bit farther out. On the other hand, if the numbers are great for an Philly property that is in decent condition I would keep the it on the table.

In short, thanks for the info everybody! From what I'm hearing, it's possible with some patience to wait for the deals. I'm not in a big hurry to jump in right now so I'll keep this info in mind as I keep researching.

Jon Holdman thanks clearing that up for me. It makes sense that there are lots of variables that might affect whether the deal will be profitable. And that is a great point to start from a realistic rent amount and work backwards to set my upper limit for an offer. I'd actually never thought about it that way.

Hi everyone,

After doing lots of looking around in and around my area, it seems like getting 2%/month for rent is quite ambitious.

As I understand it, the rule/guideline basically suggests that if you spend $100k on a property, you should be getting $2k/month. I'm also assuming that any rehabs are included in the $100k for this valuation.

Are you guys really finding these deals? The problem I'm running into is that the cheaper properties that might get better percentages will require more upkeep (they're a reason they're selling cheap!) So I'm having some trouble believing that 2% is realistic; I'd love to hear what you all think about this.

Also, I'm new to the forum, so if this has been discussed somewhere else feel free to point me in that direction.

Ben

Ben, thanks for the quick message! It would be great to connect and at least bounce ideas off each other.

I'm not really from the area so you probably know it way better than I do. I'm thinking about making my target area a little bit out of the city to avoid higher taxes/prices.