Wow, what a great time to look for an investment property. Currently downtown the city is building a new $170 million convention center and adjoining 300-room hotel are currently being built within the facade of the historic Watt & Shand department store site. Location, Location, Location the city of Lancaster is centrally located within the Mid-Atlantic corridor, just 90 minutes from both Philadelphia and Baltimore and 45 minutes from Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. I love helping investors; whether you’re buying 1 property or 10 I can help will all your real estate needs.

Steven Lee Smith, Realtor
Long & Foster Real Estate Inc
108 Foxshire Drive
Lancaster PA 17601
Office 717-581-5392
Direct 717-519-4460

Sun Jun 1 2008, 07:39

It is a great time to buy a home. I have several investors that I work with & they prefer to buy homes in the city. They get good rents & good tenants from what they tell me. Call me, lets talk.

Sat May 10 2008, 18:04

Rob
Thanks for keeping in touch with us. Investing can be tricky and getting lots of advice is a great way to get started. Lancaster City offers MANY ivestment opportunites, as do all the outlying areas nearby our many colleges,( Millersville, F&M, Etown,) Since a property management company will be doing all the extra work for you, it will be easier for you to focus on a really great investment rather than convienance . A property management company should also be able to keep it occupied, preventing any vancancies. Again another plus for you..freeing you up to pick a property that is a profitable investment.

Regarding buying the property, we may be able to find you a deal with a builder on an already exsisting property, a frustrated seller who needs to move and can't till they sell, or someone who is selling off their investments to scale back. I'd be happy to send you listings on properties when you are ready.

Thanks again for keeping us informed of your plans. I would look forward to helping you with these.


Joan Bomba
Prudential Homesale Services
Lancaster PA
717-537-0627

Fri Apr 18 2008, 07:12

Thanks for the update, Rob. Where in CA are you? We moved from SoCal in 2003. You'll be looking at a price range of about $90,000 through $140,000 for a 2 unit home, which I generally recommend as a minimum to ensure that you have rental income coming in when you have a vacancy. There may be a couple of 3-units on the market in the upper end of that price range which is even better. This should be your first thought when looking to rent, especially if you're going to have to foot for a prop. mgmt. contract too. Check out my blog at the link provided for a series of articles I've written on real estate investing, short sales, etc. Let me know what you'd like to do!

Thanks,
Jeff

Fri Apr 18 2008, 06:17

Hi Rob!

Sounds great! As you can see via the posts of my peers already...there are some great agents in Lancaster Co., and we obviously all believe in our Lanc. Co. real estate!

The one factor I'm thinking about that none of us has mentioned too much thus far is the property tax factor. Lancaster City has the highest millage rate in the county...

You can view the municipality millage rates (which is the tax multiplier on the property's assessed value) here:
http://www.lcaronline.com/user_images/1/Millage/11168982430.pdf

For example, Lanc. City is @ millage rate of 34.0160. That # would be multiplied by the property's ASSESSED (not appraised) value.

Let me know if you need help on that. There are indeed lots of great properties in the city, so certainly not deterring you from that locale...just making you aware of the taxes in the various municipalities, which you can view via the link above.

Any Realtor can also guide you to various property management companies, so no worries there!

Happy property searching! It's a GREAT time to invest!

Thu Apr 17 2008, 18:20

In terms of location, I'm thinking Lancaster city or surrounding communities. I'm unlikely to venture out to Ephrata, Litiz, etc... just because I'm not as familiar with those areas. I will definitely need a property management firm because I will still be living in california while renting it out.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Thu Apr 17 2008, 17:24

Rob...a great idea, especially in this market where there are daily Email requests to realtors for people in need of rentals. As an investor I would ask you to decide if you wanted a property to generate a lot of income, that you might not keep for very long, or a property that produces not as high an income, but the property itself would appreciate greatly in value. I would inquiring about how much " property management" you would like to do. The answers to these changes the location of the places I would show you. For my money I would look into townhouses. The are generally an easy resale when you are ready, can net you income, and often have little work to be down by the landlord for tenats to move in. Tenant in these properties often stay a longer with little trouble.

I would be happy to send you some properties in Lancaster and neighboring area like Lititz, Manheim, Ephrata. Please feel free to contact me at 717-538-0627 or jbab@dejazzd.com.

Joan Bomba
Prudential Homesale Real Estate
Lancaster PA

Wed Apr 16 2008, 15:16

Rob - Lancaster City has probably changed the most since you've been gone, and that's where most investors center their energies due to the more approachable prices. The trick is to know the blocks that are on the move and offer accessible prices - many areas have steeply appreciated, making your rental income insufficient to generate an acceptable return. There are a lot of rentals on the market, but most suffer from what I just described. You're going to have to be ruthless with the numbers, and find the best compromise between curb appeal, location, size and potential rents.

If you'd like more personalized consultation we can arrange it, thanks. I work with investors throughout the region and am skilled at getting new investors off and running. Hope this helps.

Wed Apr 16 2008, 12:24

Hi Rob!

I'm a lifelong resident of Lanc. myself - and a real estate investor personally, in addition to being a Realtor since Jan. 2000. Happy to help!

What particular areas are you considering? Are you looking to stay within Lancaster city? There's been a lot of growth there (Clipper Stadium, the new Lancaster Arts Hotel, Franklin & Marshall, in addition to the forthcoming convention center, etc.!), and there are also some great borough/other areas that you may wish to consider - Ephrata, Lititz, Manheim...and more! I'd be happy to discuss this w/ you further! Feel free to call me anytime. Office # on website below. Happy to help!

Wed Apr 16 2008, 12:22