All Forum Posts by: Steve Babiak

Good luck - I don’t have answers, but here is a video showing Chester, PA 

https://youtu.be/5VhJM2bTDXE

Sorry if my earlier post wasn't clear. The person I know purchases second position mortgages, not HOA liens. And he is now a very prominent BP member, @Dave Van Horn.

Whether the strategy of waiting for the first to foreclose works or not is not an easy question to answer, because each property has its own set of unique circumstances. Because Dave is buying pools of second mortgages, if a few don’t pan out they get offset by those that are profitable; when you buy a single property at auction and need for that property to definitely turn a profit, you have to be very diligent in your evaluation of the property’s circumstances.

I will second the DIG recommendation from @Rich O'Neill.

If you are going into the City of Philadelphia, I recommend that you look into HAPCO.

If you are going into south NJ, there is SJREIA for investors there.

There are a multitude of meetups in the area that you can find on meetup.com; you do have to look closely into the hosts / sponsors of many of them because some just have shady dealings in their background, from convictions for mortgage fraud, to being foreclosed upon by a family member due to not repaying a loan the family member gave.

Just go to meetup.com to find meetups that are actually happening.

That’s the sort of tenant that gets a ridiculously high rent increase, so that you are properly compensated for the trouble you are put through in dealing with that tenant. Then one of two things happens: they move (you win), or they stay and pay a lot more (you sort of win this way too if the rent is high enough to make it worth your while).

Here is a link to the Norristown crime map. Please note that one of the darkest areas on that map - indicating highest crime rate - is right next to the river. That particular area is well known as an area with gang activity. And the courthouse neighborhood is also in a darker colored area; zoom in on the map, the courthouse is near the Norristown Transportation Center, between Marshall and Main at Swede Street.https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.neighborhoodscout.com/pa/norristown/crime.amp

 Here are some excerpts.

“The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Norristown is 1 in 48. Based on FBI crime data, Norristown is not one of the safest communities in America. Relative to Pennsylvania, Norristown has a crime rate that is higher than 86% of the state's cities and towns of all sizes.”

“From our analysis, we discovered that violent crime in Norristown occurs at a rate higher than in most communities of all population sizes in America. The chance that a person will become a victim of a violent crime in Norristown; such as armed robbery, aggravated assault, rape or murder; is 1 in 202. This equates to a rate of 5 per one thousand inhabitants.

Significantly, based on the number of murders reported by the FBI and the number of residents living in the borough, NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that Norristown experiences one of the higher murder rates in the nation when compared with cities and towns for all sizes of population, from the largest to the smallest.

NeighborhoodScout's analysis also reveals that Norristown's rate for property crime is 16 per one thousand population. This makes Norristown a place where there is an above average chance of becoming a victim of a property crime, when compared to all other communities in America of all population sizes. Property crimes are motor vehicle theft, arson, larceny, and burglary. Your chance of becoming a victim of any of these crimes in Norristown is one in 63.”

School district rating is another factor to consider; see link. The Norristown School District is not highly rated.

https://www.greatschools.org/pennsylvania/norristown/norristown-area-school-district/

Redlining IMO would only be an issue if @Jimmy O'Connor said to stay away or refuse to do business somewhere; he did not do that, he just pointed out property characteristics. And there are some investors who go for those lesser quality areas, because they have experience in those types of properties and know they can buy there inexpensively.

Some good data there. For example, look at the ratio of sold to listed for April 2018 vs April 2021; far more units being filled in 2021.

I guess I have. A few years ago he gave a live in person presentation at a DIG REIA meeting where I was in attendance. He is now doing webinars of this strategy. That's probably why you are looking at this topic.

But I don’t know anybody who actually bought that course.

the bed bug ordinance went into effect January 1, 2021 - see link below.

https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-198057