All Forum Posts by: Zachary Corum

Thanks for your response @Chris K.

Your synopsis on what the banks are looking for in point #3 is exactly the kind of information I want to be armed with when I go to talk to the lender.

My plan is to sit down with the loan officer and provide my analysis sheet which provides them with the information they are looking for.  Since I am a new face to them I want to show them I have vested time and energy into vetting the deal my self.  Thus providing me with the highest probability of them backing my company.

Regarding your 4th point: 

Is it advised to do both liability insurance and an LLC, or does the "veil" provided by the LLC impart adequate protection with out the extra layer of insurance? It seems like it would be a little over kill.

This is great information I will defiantly start talking directly with area lenders.

I have been using 6.5% interest rate and 25% down payment when I am analyzing the properties.  I did not consider changing the mortgage rates around as one property could benefit from one type of loan more than another.

Thanks again I am going to start calling around to get some rates from local lenders!

I am actively looking in my market (North East Pennsylvania) for my first buy and hold property. To be prepared I formed an LLC to hold the property once I find it. I am primarily looking at duplex, triplex and quads. I would like to work with local lenders first to get a good rapport with them for future investments.

Question 1: What criteria are lenders looking for when I come to sit down with them to ask for financing?

Question 2: What documents, or information should I have prepared when I come to the lender?

Question 3: What are the differences in financing for an LLC as opposed to personal?

Thanks for all your help BP!

We do have a meet up group in NEPA here is the information. http://meetu.ps/e/Bn4F9/4VWxF/a Our next meeting is May 11th at the iron skillet in moosic. The link has all the details. It's a great group of people to network with. Hope we see you there!

This is what I have been able to find.

This overview on NOLO's site should give you enough information to get you started.

NOLO Landlord Tenant Overview

These are the official statutes you can refer to

Pennsylvania Landlord Tenant Laws (Statutes)

@Jerry Kisasonak is absolutely correct.  Lackawanna county and more specifically Scranton have been hiking property taxes for years with another planned for 2016. Scranton 2016 Budget

You may want to look into neighboring Luzerne county where the county taxes have not been raised for a long time and have been voted down again just recently.  That does not stop the local municipality's from raising their rates though. Municipality Tax Increases 2016

@Stephen Franco can help you out in the Luzerne county market as well as the surrounding areas.

Welcome @Jeff Zenko to BiggerPockets! You mentioned that you were stuck in analysis paralysis in your post, well I too have been stuck in the same boat for the past month. I felt like I was loosing interest just analyzing properties I was finding on realtor.com. Once I went through all the listed multi-families in my market, (less than 50) I didn't know what I wanted to do next and no new properties have been listed recently. So to get out of my funk I got a friend of mine that lives near the market to go for a walk with me in that part of town. I ended up finding 2 FSBO properties and a 4 unit that was not listed yet, but had a sign on the lawn. We recorded all the property addresses and called the numbers listed on the signs. Now I have two meetings with sellers this week and now I am more excited then ever that I might be closer to my first deal.

The second thing that I am now benefiting from is that my friend is now interested in what I am doing and has agreed to update my podio account with any new properties she comes across in that neighborhood.  Essentially providing me with a bird dog for my market.

TLDR: Its spring time and if you are feeling bogged down in analysis paralysis get out from behind the spreadsheet and go for a walk in your target market.  You are going to find a ton more on your feet than you will while behind the wheel of a car or from the pictures on the various listing sites.

Good luck and happy hunting!

@Stephen Franco in North East Pennsylvania and other markets is a wholesaler who is always looking for investors for the area, send him a pm.

Welcome @William OBrien III to the bigger pockets forums.

Have you decided on what type of investing you would like to get into?

This guide can help point you in a direction. The best thing that helped me out getting started was attending my local REIA and networking with investors, realtors, and lenders from my area

Also here are some books to get your started

The Book on Investing in Real Estate with low or no money down - This is Brandon Turners book and it provides a lot of tools to use so you can use a little of your own money in the deal as well as identifying deals that are right for you.

The Millionaire Real Estate Investor - This book taught me how to build an investing real estate strategy. It covers things like building your network, how to build a rate sheet, identifying great deals.

HOLD: How to Find, Buy, and Rent Houses for Wealth - I am currently reading this book now, it goes in depth on how to identify properties and run the numbers. They provide lots of examples on how to pin point your market. What the numbers should look like etc.

The E-Myth Revisited - This is a great business book what was a great read for an aspiring entrepreneur. The book teaches you how to not make the common mistakes in building your business and provides you with a framework on how you can successfully grow a business either solo or with a partner.

I also suggest going through the back archive of Pod Cast's. Every time I have a question about a topic I always go to find the pod cast first and listen to it while doing work around the house, or driving some where. They interview people who may not have made a million dollars yet but are well on their way and are willing to share their successes and failures the faced along their journey.

@William OBrien III

So that you can use bigger pockets to your advantage what are some areas you are searching for deals in. That way you can trigger some local investors keyword alerts.