All Forum Posts by: Rafael Floresta

@Mark Cairns

Also, you should attend a REIA meeting at http://delcopropertyinvestors.com/ . Lots of good info, and not a lot of pushy real estate gurus. The group is mostly experienced landlords, flippers and people that are starting out and work with properties in Delco/Philly.

Hey Mark,

Welcome. I invest in Delaware County. I have a lead on a house in Upper Darby that I am not interested. I live in NJ and it is a bit too far for me. It needs work, and it would be a good rental. 

Otherwise, again, welcome! We are here to help.

Does the bank has a copy of the lease? I add a clause on my lease stating that the tenant has less rights than the bank, which basically voids the lease in case of a foreclosure.

It is a priority clause. To my knowledge it is legal in NJ. 

Hey Chip. I live in South Jersey too. Your area is quite unique and there are some good places to buy a cashflowing property. Logan township is a good place too. I've heard that close to the Nuclear plant property taxes are very low, which is a huge plus when owning buy and hold. 

I started 3 years ago, and while I wasnt the fastest moving person, today I have 5 properties, and I am developing my own system. I am open to meet up for coffee, if you are interested. 

Have you thought about investing in DE or PA? It is easier to cashflow outside of NJ most of the time.

19145 and 19148 are really good places, with a nice chance of appreciation. Rents vary widely, having places from 800 to 1.6k, but in a rule of thumb if you have a newly rehabbed property, it will rent fast.  If you are really thinking about investing here, lets connect, I can drive you around some places, grab some coffee and talk shop about real estate. I am not a seasoned veteran, but I am own 5 rentals now, and in contract for another 2 more. I am planning to go full time landlord soon. I only do buy/fix/refi and hold. No flips, no rent ready. Gotta have a value add to pull the money out.

I don't personally invest in West Philly, because it is too far to manage rehabs from where I live, but all the hipsters friends from my wife's grad school are living there now.  52nd and Baltimore is more or less the boundary of nice and bad at this point. 

As for Delaware county, I like Glenolden and Collingdale a lot, but there is very little change of appreciation there. Is is mostly cashflow. Some lower areas of Delco you can get a 3 bedrooms and rent it to section 8 for 1100 for a 2 bedroom or 1300 for 3 beds.  Lots of people have 2 bedrooms vouchers, and want to rent 3 beds, if you are ok with that you can make some decent cashflow with low priced homes. 

Philadelphia county has much lower taxes, but it has income tax. Philly hasnt boomed like DC/NY/LA yet. Maybe yet might be never, maybe in 5 years. But for now, I'd take the cashflow. :)

I am all in for 32k on a house ( www.zillow.com/homes/926-Ridge-Ave-Darby-PA-19023_... ) and it is raining leads at 1.1k rent... again, lower end neighborhood, low chance of appreciation but good cashflow.

I also like those areas listed by Alpha. Not a hipster area, I would not qualify it as up and coming, but great cash flow, lots of distressed properties and people wanting to rent. 

I like the option of public transit on those areas.

Up and coming at this point is hard to say, but South Philly has been improving steadily. What is your ARV price point, and we can guide you to what area you want.

Rent in Philly is lower than NYC, clearly, but you will find that the "up and coming" areas have a lower cap rate already. 

West Philly in general is the hipster central now.

Ok. I will get some photos. What details should I look for? 

I am looking into buying a house that has a flooded crawlspace. It is a good price, so I'm trying to find out how much it would cost to fix it. I have never done anything like it and I don't even know what trade to call. 

There is about 3 feet of water in the crawlspace. 

Anyone has dealt with that before?

Usually between 7% to 10% of the rental value.

Kai, it is all about the relationship. Warranties and papers are sometimes just more of a pain in the ***. The best contractors I've dealt with, they don't have huge business, they are just small shops of people that really like the trade they do. 99% of the time I am dealing with the owner of the company and I like that very much. I also "test" them. I don't just sign a whole project to them, and usually, when I find someone good, I still keep looking for other ones. Good people are busy and it is hard to schedule them all the times you need. 

I do buy and hold.