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Old 10-16-2010, 01:05 PM
 
Location: Crafton, PA
1,173 posts, read 2,201,124 times
Reputation: 624

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I don't think there is a problem with renting a property in a town outside of your locale. If you do so, however, get in touch with a good property management company. They will take a percentage of the monthly rent (usually 7-10 percent) and will take care of lawn maintenance, repairs (you pay the bill, but they usually have contacts with inexpensive contractors), and showing/renting the property. It is a great situation for peace of mind and there are plenty of good property management companies out there.
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Old 10-16-2010, 01:19 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,644 posts, read 78,082,595 times
Reputation: 19150
Quote:
Originally Posted by trlstreet View Post
I don't think there is a problem with renting a property in a town outside of your locale. If you do so, however, get in touch with a good property management company. They will take a percentage of the monthly rent (usually 7-10 percent) and will take care of lawn maintenance, repairs (you pay the bill, but they usually have contacts with inexpensive contractors), and showing/renting the property. It is a great situation for peace of mind and there are plenty of good property management companies out there.
Actually, this is indeed a very good strategy, and I thank you for sharing it. Unfortunately the "absentee" landlords we're chastising are those who live outside the area, purchase properties, rent them out, and then just sit by idly letting the rent checks coming pouring in without hiring a management company or really caring at all. That's a big problem in Scranton in particular with a lot of the NYC/NJ slumlord investors, and I'm sure it's an issue with Pittsburgh as well.

P.S. If you happen to be in the rental business yourself I am going to be moving to Pittsburgh shortly myself and would be more than happy to consider anything you might have available if you sent me some information/inks via DM.
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Old 10-16-2010, 02:24 PM
 
20,273 posts, read 33,195,633 times
Reputation: 2912
A good property management company can indeed address some of the problems of absentee landlords--but the good ones aren't cheap, and there are some that will happily do the bare minimum for an equally minimal fee.
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Old 10-16-2010, 07:05 PM
 
Location: DC
528 posts, read 1,192,031 times
Reputation: 297
RestonRunner, I live really close to you haha- i can see why u dont like this area...im from NYC myself, and GEEZ the traffic here is worse than anything i've experienced on a regular basis over there.

but i digress.

I'm just a kid. I'm no slumlord or anything. I just want to get a feel for the market, and I heard Pittsburgh is an up and coming city. I really want to check it out and possibly make it my next move as well. Eventually I would like to be able to renovate entire city blocks and help struggling neighborhoods out if I could afford it. I don't intend on "sucking the money away" from pittsburgh. I hope you guys don't get the wrong picture of me. I just was asking
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Old 10-16-2010, 07:26 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,644 posts, read 78,082,595 times
Reputation: 19150
Quote:
Originally Posted by toredyvik View Post
RestonRunner, I live really close to you haha- i can see why u dont like this area...im from NYC myself, and GEEZ the traffic here is worse than anything i've experienced on a regular basis over there.

but i digress.

I'm just a kid. I'm no slumlord or anything. I just want to get a feel for the market, and I heard Pittsburgh is an up and coming city. I really want to check it out and possibly make it my next move as well. Eventually I would like to be able to renovate entire city blocks and help struggling neighborhoods out if I could afford it. I don't intend on "sucking the money away" from pittsburgh. I hope you guys don't get the wrong picture of me. I just was asking
Sounds like me, you, alleghenyangel, and a few others should get together sometime. We're all 20-somethings who think Pittsburgh is "up-and-coming" and want to buy up and restore large chunks of its run-down housing stock. We should seriously team up and start out own business venture! I like the sound of "Steel City Rising, LLC". I have the accounting expertise, allegheny sounds like he has the eye for architecture, and I'm sure you have some sort business acumen as well. I'm somewhat handy (LOVE demolition!!!)

While stuck in congestion yesterday on the Beltway I just looked around me at all the other drivers, and most had their palms over their faces, were leaning their heads onto their hands with their elbows propped against their windows, etc. They looked just as disgusted as I was. I'm just realizing at a young age that I don't want to live here being so stressed out my entire life when I can make a comparable salary and improve my quality-of-life immensely by moving to a "small big city" or "big small town" like Pittsburgh.

I'm not trying to bash DC anymore than I normally am inclined to do, but I just still don't see the "payoff" for the high cost-of-living and high level of stress I have living here, and I've been here a year-and-a-half already. It just hasn't gotten any better, so I'm out.

P.S. I didn't mean to imply that you were a "slumlord", and I apologize if I caused any offense. In my native Scranton, PA a lot of people from nearby NYC and NJ saw how dirt cheap the housing was and pounced. They bought real estate at rock-bottom pricing, subdivided, and then rented out the apartments, letting the rent checks come pouring in as pure profit while they spent all that money back in NYC/NJ and invested nothing into their properties or into the city itself. It was very selfish. If I was planning to invest in real estate in Pittsburgh, which I am, then I'd move there, which I'm in the process of doing.
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Old 10-16-2010, 07:30 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,644 posts, read 78,082,595 times
Reputation: 19150
P.S. I looked you up on Facebook out of curiosity, and we even work in the same building. Small world!
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Old 10-18-2010, 11:01 AM
 
6,363 posts, read 5,117,277 times
Reputation: 3313
Quote:
Originally Posted by toredyvik View Post
RestonRunner, I live really close to you haha- i can see why u dont like this area...im from NYC myself, and GEEZ the traffic here is worse than anything i've experienced on a regular basis over there.

this always puzzled me about traffic-complaining DCers...why is it ok for you ('you' general, im not picking on you, toredyvik!) to be driving on the road, BUT NO ONE ELSE?

ABSOLUTELY the traffic is bad there - its a sprawling place with a hyper-economy, and people have to get around for work, pleasure, whatever else. oh, and no one except the lower economic classes wants to take the bus. any and all cars on the road are just adding to the problem.

the road system there can only be expanded so much - its huge as it is (and of excellent quality). the number of SUVs compounds delays, reduces visibility, and hampers driver comfort for others, thus making things worse (and those monstrosities are usually populated by ONE person - but you gotta look like a winner!).

i at least tried carpooling and bussing it - but in the end i always threw in the towel and moved closer to my place of employment.

holy cow i am so happy to be out of that place - as wonderful and beautiful as it is.
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Old 10-20-2010, 01:18 AM
 
Location: Greensburg, PA
1,104 posts, read 2,606,099 times
Reputation: 183
This would seem like a good opportunity for the Greensburg area where I'm from, considering that attendance is on the rise at Seton Hill and student housing is at a premium especially near the campus. You might be better off investing out here than in Pittsburgh where you're likely to face a lot of competition and whatnot. I'm also looking to eventually getting into the real estate market in some way, perhaps like how you're looking to do things, but I would only buy local and not outside of my territory. As a matter of fact, that might be your best bet to team up with someone willing to manage the property while you're away... if you know someone in the Pittsburgh area, that would even be better.
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Old 10-20-2010, 05:49 AM
 
Location: Mt Washington
92 posts, read 146,605 times
Reputation: 34
In general...unless you are a seasoned real estate investor, I would not recommend investing in a area you dont live.

Real Estate is HANDS ON ... you will lose your shirt ... what happens if a fuse blows, a tennant calls you and you send an electrician over for $90 to flip a fuse...or the furnance wont start so you send an HVAC guy over, turns out they didnt have the thermostat turned on (this stuff really happens) there goes $120 service call... etc...

Real estate IS NOT easy money, it is HARD WORK trust me... I invest in residential real estate...

Check out - reiclub.com decent forums where you can get some good input.
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Old 10-20-2010, 11:46 AM
 
Location: DC
528 posts, read 1,192,031 times
Reputation: 297
Thanks jtpgh, I definitely have heard second-hand that its not just a walk in the park. I know of more than a few people who have personally lost their shirts in this last recession.

I wish I could invest locally, but its too expensive. We'll see. Maybe I'll team up with RestonRunner after all haha
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