All Forum Posts by: Stacy Weng

@Nathan Gesner thank you for your input, good to know from a PM's perspective!

@Joseph Scorese thank you and yes please! Would appreciate any information on proper steps to take and referrals!

Hi BP,

I have an interesting situation going on at a Philadelphia rental property. Long story short, my father in law purchased several rental properties in Philly years ago under my husband's name. But apparently he never wanted to put in any sort of work or effort to manage it. The current tenant is paying 1/3 of market rent, and the fact that he's fine with just throwing money down the drain just b/c he doesn't want to put in the work to bring the rent to market value or just hire a PM company to handle it is beyond my comprehension.

Since the property is under my husband's name, I've been pushing him to get his dad to just let us take over the property, and although my FIL wasn't willing to before, he's finally agreed to it, especially now that the tenant hasn't even paid rent in months!!

Here's where things get complicated...

1. My FIL doesn't have the contact information of the tenant (he apparently lost his phone a while ago and lost her contact info)
2. Come to find out, he has NO lease in place with the tenant! And from what I've heard, it can get really tricky in Philly to evict a tenant w/o a lease if they're considered squatters?
3. And here's the kicker, apparently he foreclosed on the two other properties he purchased in Philly, and supposedly there's a lien on this property, and he never told us about this until recently. He also doesn't want to take the time to dig up the info on the lien. So should I do a title search, or should I try to get the bank info from my FIL and contact the banks to get more details on the liens myself?

The fact that someone is willing to purchase rental properties out of state with no intention of ever putting any work into it and let it get to this point is bewildering to me. So now we're stuck with cleaning up this mess he's made, with the hopes of turning this property into a normal cash flowing property after getting the tenant out and rehabbing it.

My husband and I had originally planned on just driving up there to check on the property, to see if the tenant is still even living there and start the process of getting her out. But since driving up there just to knock on the door, without knowing if there's even anyone there, seems to be counterproductive.

I've spoken to some real estate investors in the Philly area to see what I should do to get this sorted out, and I seem to be getting some conflicting info.

On one hand, I was told that I can hire a PM company in the area who can do everything on my behalf - go check on the property, and if there's someone there, take the necessary steps to get them out, whether it's starting the eviction process, or even offer them some money to move out.

But I've also been told that I need to contact a lawyer first instead of a PM company, and I'd need a lawyer to do the eviction. I'm thinking this may be jumping the gun, since if the tenant is willing to cooperate, then it won't ever get to the eviction point?

I'd appreciate any advice on the proper steps to take to get the ball rolling in getting this mess sorted out!

Thanks in advance!

@Todd Krzeminski @Bill Exeter Thanks for the clarification!

@Russell Brazil The condo's in Fairfax county, I'm estimating a sale price of around 260 - 270K. I have over 100K in equity in the condo, so after closing costs and real estate agent fees, I'm estimating 90-100K left over. I'm just trying to determine which investment strategies would help me get the most value out of that money afterwards.

For flipping, I'm hearing from my agent along with other investors that this area's become so competitive that a lot of times investors make deals that don't make sense financially - where either the margin is really low or at an added risk where the rehab ends up failing. That's not going to stop me from continuing to bid on properties, but it's definitely been a slow process so I'm opening myself up to other options and seeing if a diversified strategy would make more sense.

I've also looked into off market deals, and honestly, the wholesale deals I've come across are not good deals. It seems like most wholesalers already have their preferred buyers list (consisting of experienced investors), so by the time the deals get to the rest of us, they've already been passed around. I guess it's a catch 22, and part of the learning curve in getting started! If you know of any wholesalers in the area, please let me know, I'd love to connect with them!

What are some local markets you'd recommend for buy and hold? How would investing locally compare to investing in turnkey properties out of state? 

@Ryan S. No, I haven't reached out to any real estate attorneys. My husband and I decided to start out on our own first and look into partnerships down the road.

Good luck!

@Todd Krzeminski @Wayne Brooks @Mark Creason I actually didn't move out of the condo until early 2015, so about 2 years, which is another reason why I'm considering selling now to avoid the capital gains tax.

So under that 121 exclusion, I wouldn't need to consider a 1031 exchange at all, correct? 1031 would only apply when there are capital gains involved? 

Hi BP!

I wanted to get some thoughts and investment advice on what I should do with the gains from my condo if I were to sell it. First, here's some background on why I'm strongly considering selling my condo...

I bought the condo back in 2004 and lived in it for 10 years before moving out of it. Since then, I've been renting it out, thinking in my naive mind that as long as the rent covered the mortgage & condo fees, that it would be a good investment. This was before I started seriously looking into real estate investing, and before I discovered BP and started learning about all the different investment strategies out there and guidelines that determine if an investment is good or not.

Looking at my condo now, it's pretty obvious that based on the numbers alone, it's a pretty crappy investment and I could be making much better use of my money. I think part of me is somewhat emotionally attached to my condo since I did live in it for 10 years, but trying to disassociate myself from all that! 

The lease with my tenants end at the end of April, so now I'm seriously considering selling the condo after the lease ends. I'm guessing everyone would agree that it's a smart choice to sell the condo? =P

My husband and I have also been trying to start flipping in the DMV area since last summer. However, finding deals in this area has had its share of challenges, from the high real estate prices that require large amounts of capital, to rejected offers due to other competing offers that a lot of times don't make sense financially. I feel like now is also a time for us to re-evaluate our investment strategy, and if it makes sense to continue to try flipping, or maybe consider looking more into buy and holds, or maybe even a combination of both.

What I need some advice on is what should I do with the money from selling the condo, which would be approx 90-100K. Here are some of my options:

1. Use as additional capital towards flipping.This could possibly allow us to consider some higher priced properties or more extensive renos (which may have less competition?)
2. Use it towards multiple lower priced buy & holds further out, but still within driving distance if we need to check on it (thinking maybe the Winchester area? any other suggestions in the greater DMV area?)
3. Use it towards turnkey properties out of state in markets where we'd be able to get a lot more value for the money and hire a property management company (vetting and finding the right property management companies might be difficult from a distance?)
4. A combination of the above?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Stacy

Welcome to BP James!

I'm a new investor in Centreville as well. This area is definitely challenging but just gotta keep on grinding! BP is a great resource with a wealth of information. 

As for local REI groups, CAZA Investor Network is a great group that meets monthly in Reston. Capital REI Group is another.

Good luck!

Hi BP!

I'm looking for an investor friendly real estate agent in Northern VA to work with. I'm a new investor looking to do fix & flip projects in the DMV area, with a main focus on Northern VA along with parts of MD and DC.

The real estate agent I was working with up until now just notified me that she wants to focus on the VA market only. I also got the feeling that maybe working with an investor wasn't really her preference, even though she had said otherwise before.

So now I'm in the market for a new agent that's experienced in working with investors that I can develop a long term working relationship / partnership with.

Any recommendations would be appreciated! 

Thanks!

Stacy

@Kris Swierz wow, great returns, keep up the awesome work! 

@Kris Swierz, just curious, but when you come across these great deals with large spreads, especially when it's on the MLS, don't they get bid up with multiple offers? What I've seen around my area is that any decent deal (many with much lower spreads than your example) end up with multiple offers that get bid way up, so just curious if you've experienced the same and how you're still managing to get in on them and make your target profit.

Thanks @Jeff S. @Suzanne Griffiths, this is all great info and stuff to consider for each deal!

@Alfie Bartley, LOL, it's always better to over analyze and know every scenario vs. not knowing enough!