93% of renters think rental scams are common and 88% of scams came through. Let's shift to some good news now. Here is one way to put money back into your pocket with upgrades that tenant actually care about and you can make some money on it. Let's talk about something else that is directly hit your bottom line if you're buying or selling.

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We're here to share insights and experiences, not legal or accounting advice. Be sure to talk to your attorney, accountant, or professional advisor before making any decisions. Everyone's situation is different. Get the help that is right for you. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Philly Landlord Guy show. I'm your host, Yuri Skripnichenko, the guy with the hard-to-spell last name and hard-to-remember takes on Philly real estate. Just think of me as the Philly landlord. If you own or manage rental property in Philly, this episode is for you. Here's what we're going to cover today. We'll talk about what makes zip codes 19116 and 19115 great neighborhoods to invest in. We'll discuss latest 2025 rental market stats for May and April. We will talk about rental scams and how they impact on you more than you think. We will talk about new transfer taxes and fee hikes in the city of Philadelphia. start on July 1st. We will also tell you about a rebate program that you may not have heard of from Calelfare Gatsworks that you can take advantage of. And at the end, we will discuss a rent control bill that is going through Harrisbrook right now, and you want to oppose it as soon as possible. So let's get right into it. Okay, let's start with a quick breakdown of Northeast Philly 19116 and 19115 zip codes. These are mature neighborhoods, mostly filled with single-family and twin houses, quite stringed long-term, homeowners and working class renters. So these are some of the most stable tenant bases in the city. According to the census data, median household income is around$68,000 in 19116 and about$70,000 in 19115, both significantly higher than Philly's overall median income of$53,000. These neighborhoods are incredibly diverse. Roughly 46% of the residents speak a language other than English at home, and more than one in each four persons are foreign-born. English-speaking speakers make up just about 54%, which means landlords should consider multifamily communication tools. These aren't transitional areas. These are low turnover, low vacancy buy and hold neighborhoods. If you're looking for deep discount flips, this is not your market area. It's not easy to find something that you can get at a low discount. If you own here, hold it if you're trying to buy it will take patience but it's worth it these are the kind of markets where equity builds over time and tenants stay for years strong incomes and low turnover makes for the stable investments but deals are rare and competition is real think long term focus on quality acquisitions not speed so spoiler alert we'll have a guest on our next episode, an investor and real estate agent who knows this pocket very well. And he invests here and he owns properties here. So he will give you a little bit more insightful information on these areas. So what is the Philly market looks like right now? The market is shifting. Redfin shows the market balancing out, maybe even turning into a buyer's market right now. So what that means for For rental, the stats for May 2025 show some real movement. Citywide days on the market dropped from 67 days in April to 53 days in May. Median listed rent from$1,900 and median rented price$1,786. So yes, landlords are still discounting. So basically we have median price for all of the listed units in the city of Philadelphia at 1900 and they were rented at 1786. So it's over$100 discount here. So now what is happening in 19116 and 19115? The east on the market average is 39, which is much lower than in the whole city. Median listed price 2175, which is higher than median for the city and median rented is 1825. That means two things. Tenants are shopping around and they're negotiating harder than before. And if you price too high, you will sit vacant for a while. So price correct, offer value, and don't get greedy with the prices here. So as you can see on the report on MLS, there is over$300 difference between the listed price and the rented price. So we had strong market for years, but it's cooling now and renters know it. Adjust your strategy now or risk vacancy later. Okay, I want to take a quick break to thank our sponsor, TrustArt Realt, your full-service property management company in Philadelphia. Whether you're just getting started or scaling your portfolio, TrustArt helps you state compliant, efficient, and profitable. Get a free property management evaluation. You can email at info at trustartrealty.com or fill out a quick form that you will find in show notes and they will get back to you and provide you with great advice. Now let's get back right to it. So now let's move from market stats to a problem that is hurting landlords and tenants alike, rental scams. A recent study by Rently and Policy shows that scam are rising. FTC had over 10,000 scams cases in 2023. Better Business Bureau saw a 45% increase in scams complaints. 93% of renters think rental scams are common and 88% of scams came through Facebook. So this isn't just a tenant problem, this is our problem. These scams arouse trust in all of us, you lose leads, good tenants become suspicious of even legit landlords like yourself. So protect your listings, use platforms with verified identity checks, avoid places like Facebook or Craigslist, and educate renters when you can. Renters want safe and transparent leasing. Scammers are undermining the whole system. So be proactive, use secure tools, and make your listings fraud-proof. Alright, shifting gears, let's talk about something else that is directly hit your bottom line if you're buying or selling. The increase starts on July 1, 2025. Effective this July, Philly is increasing both recording fees and royalty transfer tax. Here's what is changing. Recording fees go up by$3 per document. So all of your deeds, all of your mortgages, every document that needs to get recorded goes up by$3, which is not much. But when you combine all of them that you need to record, it comes up to something. I do not know where is this magic number of$3 coming from, but they increased it by$3. And also they increased the real estate transfer tax by$1. 0.3%. Again, number three, no explanation where it's coming from, but real estate transfer tax goes up from 3.278% to 3.578%, which is a significant hike. Let's say if you're buying a$300,000 property, it's almost about$900 more in tax that you will just pay out of your pocket. So now what? If you're buying or selling this summer for factor this in now don't let your numbers get blown up mid deal so uh you're aware of what's happening and philly real estate costs were already high but these new increases make closing even tighter. Budget smarter? Adjust your margins. Quick update. Our Jumpstart Northeast Philly program is live and we're accepting applications now. If you are in Northeast Philly and you're looking to learn how to find, buy, finance, fix, rehab, sell, or rent a property in Philadelphia, this program is built for you. It is based on proven success of Jumpstart Germantown program and focused on building local wealth while improving in our own neighborhoods. You also will hear from multiple industry experts such as lenders, contractors, zoning experts, and more sharing real practical knowledge to help you succeed. Don't wait, space is limited. The first program is running in September. The application process is open to apply. Click the link in the show notes or go to trustartrealty.com, select resources, jumpstart North East. Let's move to some good news now. Here is one way to put money back into your pocket with upgrades that tenant actually care about and you can make some money on it. PGW, which is Philadelphia Gas Works, has a rebate program right now called Energy Sense. It's real money back for high efficiency natural gas systems. So here is what they're offering. You can get up to$1,225 for high efficiency boilers,$625 for tankless water heaters,$70 per smart thermostat, even$500 to switch from another heat source to natural gas. You can visit pgwenergysamp.com. Rebates are available for next two years through 2027, but funds are limited. If you are doing HVAC upgrades to this, you can get some rebates back. All right, last thing, and it's a big one. Let's talk about rent control bill that's working its way through Harrisburg right now. Now, House Bill 1250 passed the PA House. It aims to impose statewide rent control, starting with manufacturing housing for now. But this opens the back door to broader rent control across all property types in the future. It could tap rent increases at 2% to 4% and tie them to CPI. So can you imagine if that happens and now all of a sudden you just can not increase your rent more than 4% or even 2%. That means no real way to match your rising cost, taxes, labor, repairs, which is revenue. It is dangerous precedent. And with the hikes of taxes and insurances that we have seen in the last years, it would be a complete disaster if we cannot increase rents more than by 2% or 4%. So we need to oppose and this is your time when you can act. And NARPUM, it's National Association of Residential Property Managers, made it easy. We as a part of this association had an access to it. And now what you can do, you can just use the tool. It's a quick link that you can click. It's in the show notes. If you go there, you can just fill out a short form where you will put your email address, name, and a phone number. You don't even have to put your phone number. You just need to have name and email address and your address. you need to be a PA resident and you will be able to submit that form which automatically will send an email to your state rep just in two clicks. And that email will tell them that they need to oppose this bill. So please do that. That will protect you if we be able to stop this bill from passing. This is it for this episode. We covered zip codes 19115, 19116. We covered 2025 rental trends, the rise of scams in rentals, fee hikes coming to you, July 1, 2025, natural gas rebates from PGW, and we also spoke about rent control and why you need to take an action on it. If you've got any questions about anything that we've covered, or if you have any questions that you would like us to cover in the future episodes, drop them into the comments or email us us at info at elalandlordguy.com. If you found value in this, hit follow, subscribe, share with another landlord, and check the show notes for the links that we mentioned above. That's all. Until the next time, happy landlording.