All Forum Posts by: Joseph Lin

@Scott Kaczmarek - Thank you. I think the issue with the double charge and lack of communication (had to find out tenant broke the lease myself) left a bad taste in my mouth and start to question a lot of the things I was seeing. My intent for this posting was to affirm that the charges I'm seeing is the norm, not to make false accusations.

@Michael P. - Thanks, looks like it was.

@Jay Hinrichs - I've been billed several times during the date the tenant moved out. One bill for $525 was labeled as MOVEOUT, which I assumed was all the repairs/cleaning required to get the place ready for the next tenant. 

@James Wise - My issue isn't with the fee itself. It's a question of discrepancy. Why would these fees have not shown up when the property was initially vacant but is showing up now? In terms of cleaning, as I mentioned to Jay I was already billed $525 for moveout fee which I thought covered cleaning. Also, they take the first months rent once a tenant has been placed (if can be placed within first month vacancy), which I assumed covered all the fees to get the place rented (advertising, lawn mowing, etc).

My question was really directed towards other customers to see if they were seeing similar experiences. I have no issues paying for fees but when the fees don't match what I've seen historically, then there's a problem.

Hi,

I would like to talk to other people who are investors with Spartan Invest in Alabama to see if they are seeing similar issues.

A little background. I purchased an investment home with them around 12/2018. It took them a while but was finally able to get tenants in around 3/2019 on two year lease. During that three months, I was not charged anything and because it took 3 months to put in tenants, they did not take first months rent as placement fee. Around 2/2020 the tenant broke the lease due to work. Because the tenant broke the lease and owned a pet, I was expecting to receive 2 months rent. Here is where a few things start feeling sketchy to me.

1. They still considered the early-termination fee and pet fee as rent so I was charged the usual management fee.

2. They charged me a lot of fees on move-out, one of which was a double charge for lock change that I had to ask multiple times to remove before they finally did.

3. Even after these move out fees, I'm still getting charged for things such as utility ($139.50), lawn mowing ($45.00), and house cleaning ($50.00). This does not seem right as I did not have to pay for these during the initial three months my property stood empty.

I feel like this is an attempt on their end to recoup losses caused by COVID. Anyone else having these issues with them?

Hi everyone,

I'm planning on doing my first BRRRR this year but will need to go out of state as the numbers don't work in the area I live in. I would definitely hearing feedback from other out of state investors as to how you guys go about estimating rehab costs. I can't imagine this can be done just by looking at a few pictures of the property.

Thanks!

@David Lee Hall, III - Wow thanks a lot for all that info. I'll need a bit to digest all that but it's definitely given me a lot to think about. 

@James Wise - Thanks James. Those were the numbers that I would ideally want in a deal so I put it out there to see what others with more expertise in the matter thought. I hear you though and appreciate the feedback.

@Ali Groat - Thanks Ali!

@David Lee Hall, III - Thanks for your input, David! I’ll definitely take a close look at the neighborhoods you suggested. You mentioned the “fractured” neighborhoods in Western PA. What causes such a big swing in desirability?

Also, I wanted to stay away from C class neighborhoods because I didn’t want to deal with the potential headaches and wanted a tenant pool that would take better care of the property. Are C class neighborhoods not as bad in Pittsburgh?

@Ali Groat - Appreciate the feedback, Ali! I've been cross referencing Zillow with Niche to see get a feel for the different neighborhoods. I've seen a couple postings on Zillow in Beechview area for around 50K with comps in the 120K range. I am by no means an expert at estimating rehab costs and ARV so I could be off. I'll definitely take a look at Dormont. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to do my first BRRRR as an out of state investor in Pittsburgh. I just wanted to start this thread to network with others in the Pittsburgh market and get a feel for the area. In particular, I'm looking for:

- 40K in equity after repairs

- Cashflow at least $200 after expenses and debt services

- B class neighborhoods and above

- All in price around 100K

Based upon my research, it seems like this is possible to do. Does anyone have any thoughts on this and neighborhoods that could fit this criteria? Any recommendations for realtors/property managers/contractors would be greatly appreciated as well.

Thanks!