Around the Block Projects LLC

23/12/2024

What's the optimal number of bedroom in a property? That depends on your market.

30/11/2023

We see this in the many investments that we own and have been a part of in the Philly METRO area. Burbs are booming.

The National Association of Realtors’ annual report details who’s buying and selling homes and how they’re going about it.

27/11/2023

Different times present different opportunities. High interest rates (likely at the peak now) means BRRR is not relevant, even if you are being told otherwise. Demand for housing is still strong because people still need to live somewhere.. The moment rates go down, housing prices will go through the roof! The time to get equity is now. Got cash?

13/09/2023

In order to make things happen for the people we assist, we have spent years finding the right partners and building a few select teams. We always say that while location is important and you need to know how to choose a market, no matter how great the market is, you must work with good PEOPLE. Messages like this remind us that we have some special people helping us out.

26/08/2023

Don’t Sell

I have assisted many investors to purchase investments in the region and in doing so, have been exposed to a wide range of investments and investors. I once thought that an indication of my success is client satisfaction and quickly realized that this is not always the case. But the reason may surprise you. Many investors often do not understand much about investing and their expectations are not a good match to the type of investments they are making. This is a result of a lack of financial intelligence, the many gurus pushing all kinds of unreasonable expectations and people just saying stuff in social media that is not true.

One investor I worked with turned out to be a particularly unpleasant person with highly unreasonable expectations. The property was in a great area and in excellent shape. It was acquired for $119k in 2018. A property manager placed a tenant quickly.There was a failure in vetting, but the owner approved the tenant. Early on they became delinquent and within a short time (this was not inside Philly), the eviction was completed. Immediately the owner chose to sell for $120k, less than one year after purchasing. Today, the property is worth almost $200k and rent is about $1700.
In other words, had she kept her $129k investment (after rehab and fees), she would be getting a gross return of almost 16% plus 47% appreciation in 5 years.

Another property in the same area was bought by an investor for a total investment of $96k in 2019. Rent was around $1100 and again, there were some problematic tenants and some maintenance issues. The owner doubted the wisdom of the investment and was tired that it was demanding time and investment in repairs. She sold in 2021 for only $119k plus she had to make some repairs. In June 2023, the home under new ownership, rented within weeks for $1,600 and is currently valued around $155k! Any savvy investor today would kill for this kind of ROI and appreciation. By acting impulsively and out of fear she gave up $36,000 of appreciation - 37% in the growth of her principal investment in only two years, not to mention the ongoing rent dividend. The area had been chosen because of its potential and has continuously improved with demand to live in the area rising exponentially.

Savvy investors know not to act impulsively and not to judge an investment on its first year or two of performance. And even moreso, they know to put each investment into the context of the current environment as well as the future which could be one of appreciation, depreciation or neither. But the point is, look at all aspects of your investments and don’t let yourself get shaken by problems. It’s all part of the business.

17/07/2023

Whether an investment is good, is only truly apparent with time yet most investors and marketers focus on the first year. Because we believe in appreciation and the timing of investments, we like to go back and review our investments. Imagine how it feels to almost double your money in just three years.

In 2020, we purchased a property in Lower Bucks County Pennsylvania in what we identified as solid, growth area with a good appreciation and ROI potential

05/07/2023

There is a very good chance that if you own residential property anywhere, you are being overassessed and therefore paying more than you should in real estate taxes. Every municipality and township allows owners to appeal their assessed value. It's a shame not to.

20/06/2023

My new favorite term "NewRU" - New Guru (credit to Paul Moore of Wellings Capital) It is a phenomena that I have observed in Real Estate investing for years now. I have seen it all - the woman that completes a nice AirBNB and overnight becomes the AirBNB business guru to the guy that has never done a single RE investment but knows a lot of investors that he can take selfies with and now he is your Investment coach. And don't get me started about the small investor turned guru I met who has no understanding of even the most basic principles of construction. Seriously, it is that bad. Then there are the ones pushing some spiritual awakening / self help / financial freedom lifestyle through investing. We sat on the sidelines watching the multi-family syndication phenomena spread. Don't get me wrong - there are many solid professional operators out there with a proven record and I know a few of them. But as I watched little SFH guys that had way less experience than us jump onto the bandwagon and wondered if I am missing out or not talented enough, my gut told me that something here does not add up. Anyone considering getting into the syndication game, it can be a great addition to your portfolio. Just beware of the NewRu's and the hype and the promises and guarantees. Go solid and boring and proceed with caution, especially in this economy. And know who you are doing business with.

We all hate market meltdowns, and this one was bound to happen. We just didn’t know when, exactly how, or how bad things would get. But we now know the answer

07/06/2023

https://aroundtheblockassets.com/when-is-the-right-time-for-buying-real-estate-in-a-transitioning-neighborhood/

New investors face a big challenge of figuring out where to invest. This post and video give some important insights. You need to know how to see into the future.

Buying distressed properties is not the only way to invest. It is how many people start and continue. You can buy under market price. You need to understand what you are doing and what the real potential is.

28/03/2023

New interesting data from Zillow research.
-The typical U.S. home value climbed slightly from January to February (0.1%). Home values are 4.4% higher than one year ago but 3.3% lower than their peak last July.
-There were 22.2% fewer new for-sale listings entering the market compared to last February, and 31.4% fewer than in February 2020.
-Slightly more than 800,000 homes were listed for sale at any point in February, the second-lowest February level in Zillow’s data history, which dates back to 2018.
-Newly pending sales were down 19.1% year-over-year, and down 5.4% from February 2020.
-Those pending sales took 17 days from listed to pending, at the median, compared to seven days last February, and 22 days in February 2020.
-Asking rents climbed 0.3% month-over-month, snapping a three-month streak of substantially lower rent growth than normal.