All Forum Posts by: Devin Woods

@Jim K.

I definitely agree with your suggestion, learn from an active investor… but real estate agents don’t get paid buy the buyer, whether it’s an investment property or not. So your sandwich idea is actually more expensive!

Hey @Mikey Bentivegna, I’m an investor and agent with an investor focus in Pittsburgh. I’d be happy to help out.

@Connor Wege

I just got my license after being an investor in Pittsburgh for the last 10 years. I work full time in oil and gas, and did it for the purpose you outlined, supplemental income.

The process is straightforward, but can be a bit of a pain.

@Cory Pruyn

Hey Cory,

I’m an investor in Pittsburgh multi families, and recently became an agent to help others. I’d be glad to share some knowledge on how I got started, evaluating deals, or in search for that first deal.

@Tsering Lhamo

Pittsburgh, Pa is still a great market for multi’s and single family residential investments.

If you’d like to discuss details or hear about the area, let me know.

-Regards,

Devin

Hi Mark McPherson , I have a 6 unit in South Fayette, and might be able to help you shed some light.

In my experience, owners will not provide rent rolls if you haven't at least made an offer, but more likely until you have it under contract. For commercial apartment deals, this should be untainted during diligence, as has already been mentioned. You'll also want to review all leases. If you're dealing with small multis, the owner likely doesn't have an official rent roll, but they may. You can get copies of the leases, or maybe ask for and income statement from their returns. But these would all be done after under contract. The key is to know the market where you're buying. And being in Pittsburgh, I highly recommend you have a strong agent, as areas differ pretty quickly from block to block, let alone by neighborhoods.

Jack Macioce You're generally correct, residential is based upon comps, where commercial is based upon CAP. With that being said, investors still value their money the same. So if you have a duplex in the same neighborhood as a 20 unit apartment building, and the apartment is valued at a 7 Cap. You can translate that Cap over to the duplex as well. As it is generally expected to get similar appreciation as the 20 unit, and an investor putting their money to work in that area would expect a similar return. Where things get convoluted, is when small multi families are bought by people other than investors. This causes prices to be determined by influences outside of what a normal investor would consider. These are of course generalities, and can vary.

The value of real estate is determined by what people are willing to pay for it. And if nobody is willing to buy at that price, you may be on the high end. I have some smaller multi families in the Brookline / Beechview area, and currently refinancing some of them. That is my preferred method, as I get my money out, plus get to continue to own them. I do have to agree with some others though. I wouldn't consider the back side of Mt. Washington a "hot" area. Some really well priced duplexes or triplexes sell quickly there, but there's a lot of other inventory that sits a while. If you feel you can get $900 or so renting your vacant unit... then do it. Make it more appealing to an investor and prove your market.

Dan Mason I have a duplex in Brookline, so that kind of intrigues me that you're able to find success. Do you have somebody else manage it and turn it over each time? And what kind of rates are you getting, as well as vacancy?