All Forum Posts by: Ramon Robert Rios

@Samantha Pancoast I currently live in Norristown. Similar to my experience of living in West Philadelphia, it will vary street by street. I recently tuned in for a Norristown development information session and there is a lot of exciting opportunities in the pipeline (several new build projects in and around norristown), the interchange projects (several years out), and the hopeful riverfront development. The rents are high and there are a ton of cheap properties that you can add value to and then rent out. However, be sure to get to the codes office early with permits, it can be a nightmare with that office.

I am actually an investor and resident in the heart of Norristown. I will say that the opportunity is certainly there to make money. My wife and I are in the process of doing a cash-out refinance on our live-in renovation and we plan to househack once that is completed. We live in a 5 bed 2 bath semi-detached twin near the Schuylkill River trail and purchased the place at $101,000. We renovated it with $45K and we will find out if it will appraise for $185-200K next Friday. We can rent out bedrooms for around $500-600/month, which will almost cover mortgage and then when we leave the whole place can easily rent for $1,800. My biggest complaint has been the codes office. They take much longer than other areas (even though they say they are good) and they simply have so many ridiculous codes that it sometimes hinders progress. I can tell you the local government does not like slumlords, which there are plenty of and unfortunately this attracts bad tenants and gives the rest of us a bad name, but actually living in the area for the most part has been great! Easy drive into King of Prussia, regional rail into center-city. I know I will not live here forever, but it was a great way to begin my real estate investing. Let me know if you have any further questions! Would be happy to chat!

Good Morning Everyone!

Many people say that they may lack one of these three things:

Money

Time

Knowledge

As a young professional, I do not have a ton of money to begin my real estate journey. However, to make up for this, I have been reading every book I can on property management, wholesaling, flipping, and the BRRR method.

I am about to finish up my first live-in-flip and I hope to house hack my SFH. However, I want to begin practicing what I have learned about wholesaling real estate, in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

With this in mind, I want to help any Wholesalers in this and some surrounding areas with my TIME. I want to add value to you by driving for dollars, making calls, and getting deals done!

In exchange, I would love to shadow you regarding the cycle of wholesaling and learning best practices so that I can eventually start my journey in wholesaling.

Please feel free to DM me if you would like to talk about this further!

Thank you!

@Marcus Franklin I’m also trying to get towards the U&O, that whole office is incompetent. But looking at the return on investment I think it would be good. My plan is to finish renovations on my 5 bed 2 bath house in Norristown and rent it out once I’m done house hacking. I could get close to $1750 in rent which is more than enough money to cover mortgage, taxes and everything else.

Hello Daniel! I recently purchased a SFH in Norristown, 5 bedrooms 2 bath. Previous landlord had a month to month lease for $1450 and this place was pretty run down. My wife and I are currently fixing up the place. I spoke with a few other investors and property management groups and they said we could easily get $1650 once the place is fully renovated.

Hello BP Friends! I am new to real estate investing and I wanted some feedback on the type of property I should buy for my first investment.

I am looking to purchase a property in either Norristown, PA or somewhere in Philadelphia, PA (However, it needs to be a safe area for us to house hack).

I was hoping to use a 203K Loan (trying to find a fixer-upper to get forced appreciation), but I am not sure if I should buy a duplex or SFH.

My finances are okay, between me and my fiance  we'll have 10K for down payment, however, I have a lot of student loan debt (120K). I am on an income based repayment plan with the hope of getting Public Service Loan Forgiveness, but the banks are going to do the 1% rule for my total debt. With this in mind our current debt to income ratio (minus our rent) is 33%. 

I want to be a landlord, but am not sure how risky it would be to buy a duplex in my area with our current circumstances. What would all of you do?

Buy, fix, and hold a SFH or duplex? We would live in either property for at least 3 years.

Looking forward to hearing your feedback and suggestions!