All Forum Posts by: Sara Finley

@Michael Lyons please refer to the FAQ section of the Philadelphia SD . Org page.

If a student doesn’t get the Charter School or neighborhood school of their choice, (which happens all the time), or the Charter School closes, they have the ability to enroll in their “neighborhood” school.

I and not taking about “A+ only” - schools, but the difference between C to F.

The families that live outside their preferred neighborhood school have to apply and the places are chosen by a computerized lottery. (Which I’m sure is toooootally legit).

I don’t know about you but I would rather not have my child’s education decided by a lottery. I would do everything in my power to buy or rent in a neighborhood with the best school I could afford.

That said, 100% of the people renting from me are renting b/c the neighborhood elementary school is fantastic- and the neighborhood isn’t so bad either.

Maybe we can also take into consideration that we are talking about 2 completely different set of buyers. People who are younger and don’t have kids - are looking for the up and coming trendy spots.

In the end my portfolio is very small compared to most, so focusing on this strategy has worked for me, but might not work for everyone. Good luck and great success to us all! $$$$

@Jimmy O'Connor I was not bashing your insights and references to bars and coffee shops - I thought it was informative and interesting thing I had not thought of before.

In my post I was just trying to offer another perspective.

Let me replace “school district” with zoned school or catchment. As a parent, and landlord, and previous renter I will always choose to live or rent in the area with the higher rated schools - maybe they aren’t Blue Ribbon Schools, but a C+ rated Elementary School > F Elementary School. And no I’m not talking about the “burbs.”

It is just something that I have found that has helped make my properties easy to rent - and I thought I would share.

@Jimmy O'Connor I noticed that only trendy bars and coffee shops was one of your top mentions…

I think you should also consider school district - at least when it comes to building a rental portfolio in these areas. A rental in SD 1 (A -C rating) will always have higher demand (and usually higher rent) than the rental down the street in SD 2 (D - F).

This is coming from my last 6 years of experience with my 4 (3/1 B/C) rental properties in the area. All of them have been continuously rented for the past 6 years, until now. I just put one for rent for $1700/mo - and received 14 inquiries in 12 hours. All these properties were purchased for under 100k (not possible now, we got lucky with the downswing of the market at that time). Another good thing (which is also a PIA) is that the borough has strict rental guidelines and also strict CO policies when properties are sold or rented. This is really annoying for a landlord, but it keeps the neighborhood slightly nicer than the next.

Please let me know your thoughts… or if I am way off base on what you were trying to accomplish. Either way thank you for the breakdown - it was interesting and insightful.

Sara

@Account Closed we got a 10 year loan at 4.5 % cash out refi from our credit union with no closing costs.  With interest rates as low as they are right now I wasn’t impressed... unless I’m missing something.

@Carlos Ptriawan thank you for a thoughtful positive response. Much needed.

@Brian G. Thank you for your response! I am liking option #2... That would give me a little reprieve in the rental area b/c the last 3 tenants are lifers and very easy to manage.

And thank you I now know what a 1031 is, so there’s that. :)

@Robert Tinker I have nothing against property managers... but like you said, you have to find a good one!! I don’t even know how much they are supposed to charge and what all they do.  We do all of our own repairs, etc so I am not sure really what I would be paying for.

And about the HELOC, that is a good idea. I am looking at rates now to see what I can get.

@Jody Sperling - You didn’t provoke me - I was just explaining why its irresponsible make negative assumptions about people who are asking for your advice - when you don’t have all of the information. 

I think you missed the part where I said thank you for your response and you gave me some things to think about.

Out of my entire reply all you gleamed from it that I was trying to insult you in some way. Once again you are making assumptions about me and my point of view of the world, wealth, and how to raise a family. 

Just because I want to raise my family one way is not a slight on your way in any way.  Why would you even think that? If everyone lived the same journey life would be pretty boring.

Anyway - this has strayed way off topic. We can continue the conversation further offline if you would like.

@Jody Sperling I couldn’t tag you for some reason- see above response ty.

@Will Fraser thank you! We are sort of leaning that way too.. I am just not happy with the 4% interest rate we received when rates are so low. I’m sure it has to do with the fact that it is a rental property. I appreciate your input and support!