All Forum Posts by: Stefan D.

Hey Crosby,

Welcome to the site.  I invest in Pittsburgh from out of state, single families, and I just had an offer accepted on my first duplex.  Reach out if you ever want to chat.

@Amy Cheng

Welcome to BP. I've got some experience doing remote BRRRR's in Pittsburgh, it is possible! I'm happy to chat

Pittsburgh's population is still well below the peak - there's plenty of houses around, some of them just need a lot of work.  As home values go up investors are fixing up houses that need more and more work.  I imagine Columbus has something similar going on

@Steven Girgash

Welcome Steven. I've completed two BRRRR's of SFR's in the north side, so I'd be happy to talk about that. I've been following the MLS to find multi-family deals, but I haven't seen much that I'm excited about.

The biggest challenge you'll face is making sure the property you buy doesn't need more work than you think it does.

Good luck

I've got no crazy numbers to brag about. Last year I quit my full time high stress job, did a long distance BRRRR and got all my money out, and a "free" house. I've done three other deals, but this was my "best" because it proved that I didn't have to bust my *** for someone else the rest of my life, thanks to BP.

@Brandon Cristiano Make sure you calculate in the closing costs.  You can take this straight to a title co, so you don't need to pay a realtor, but you will have to pay title related fees, the appraisal, and the Transfer Tax, which is around 4.5% (you'll pay half).

Another important piece is to factor in what capex expenses you expect over the next couple of years.  You'll want a contractor or inspector to figure out how many years you have left on all the major items (roof, windows, furnace, etc)

Good luck!

@Nathaniel Buck

Welcome to real estate. I'm about two years ahead of you with a few SFR's around the Burgh. I'm finding that it's not exactly low-stress, but it's well worth the work. Feel free to reach out if you want to chat

@Jim K.. I love Pittsburgh - but thanks for the brilliant counter arguments.  Every city claims to have a tech scene, and to be the next location of Amazon's HQ.  I live in a town of 9000, and we even claim to have a tech scene.  Pittsburgh does have some promising tech companies but like you said, it doesn't add to something significant just yet.

I do think Pittsburgh is very diverse and accepting, my parents were both immigrants with heavy accents and we never once felt unwelcome - back in the 90's.  The schools bring young people in, and many of them stay because Pittsburgh is a great city.  Also UPMC or the Universities don't have to be the best overall to thrive, they can find niches.

@Cole Chiappialle

Welcome, and good luck with the journey. You're in a good city to BRRRR, although the first "R" can be a minefield with old houses. I've BRRRR'ed 2 SFR's in Avalon. Happy to share what I've learned.

@Jason Collins I agree with Andrew that it's hard to predict BUT I'm going to take a stab at it anyway.  With rates at historical lows they are bound to increase, I mean they can't really go down, right?  Plus, the US has a lot of debt, the only way we could pay that debt down is to create inflation, which makes the real value of the loans smaller.  With inflation, banks will charge more for loans.  I think that has a pretty good chance of happening in the next 10 years.