Pa Deals advertises itself as a one-stop shop for real estate investing--purchasing, lending, rehabbing, property management, and sales, and I can personally attest they failed at each of these disciplines.
The story:
Mr. Weist and his company were investing in a transitional area in the Uptown neighborhood of Harrisburg, needing investors for multiple projects on 4th Street and Woodbine. They have a nice song-and-dance about the area coming back, owner occupiers moving in, and $1,400/month rents. Sure, I accepted some of this as puffery, but I really did not need a massive profit from my rehab.
I did not expect to lose my shirt either.
The property selected had an extremely poor rehab--trouble spots were drywalled and painted over, bathroom fixtures were cheap, and the front porch was literally falling off the house. The roof leaked and water still entered the basement. The sales side was worse. Their hand-picked agent looked at the property and then stopped returning my calls...and, keep in mind, that was after the supposed rehab. Their second agent said he'd list it, but he was upfront and said it would not sell. It did not.
So Plan B, own and rent it out. Did I mention Mr. Weist also runs a property management company? It changes its name every now and then, first Fusion Asset Management, then Harrisburg Property Management, and perhaps they'll later call it something else.
Well, the tenant they selected turned out to be a rent-evader. I knew where this is going...so did Pa Deals. Instead of abiding by their one-year tenant guaranty they had at the time, Pa Deals jumped ship. They were gone.
Plan C, after five years of owning this dog of a property, four management companies, four terrible tenants, a sewer backup, a leaking roof, a delinquent mortgage, a brand new gas boiler almost destroyed by a tenant--it's time to sell, regardless of the price.
Yes, I do blame myself for a lot of this. I had some success in York and thought I could do the same in Harrisburg. I was wrong. And I am glad to say that after years of blood, sweat and tears, I am finally done. But walking through the 4th and Woodbine area, I couldn't help noticing every single one of Zack's rehabs was falling apart. Not just mine. Even the house he said he personally rehabbed and sold for $85K in 2008. Pa Deals took a lot of investors' money and single-handedly created a slum...quite an accomplishment.
So the numbers:
The deal on paper: $19K paid by Pa Deals in 2008, they put some work into the property, sold to me for $39K, $21K full rehab, list for $85K list in 2009, and potential $20K profit.
The reality: Final sale in 2016 for $18.5K.
Oh by the way, fun fact with that, I got two offers on the property in 2016. One was the one we accepted, the one for $18.5K.
The offer we rejected was for $10K. The intended purchaser...Pa Deals. read more
