Buying, renting, flipping on Long Island

[Brian Koralewski]

Hi All,

I live in Long Island, New York.  I've been analyzing properties in Nassau/Suffolk/Queens and I've come to an obvious realization - the property taxes are ridiculously high.  Any buy and rent cash margins are slim, as well as any appreciation (Suffolk County has or had at one point the highest number of foreclosures of any county in New York State).  If you do a quick search on zillow, trulia, etc. the majority of single-family homes listed under $175,000 are in foreclosure.  Property taxes range from 7-$15,000 annually in the better neighborhoods.  Yikes.  And then you have the potential rehab/repair costs.

Foreclosures do certainly represent opportunity and they're generally sold "as is" and in cash (for $100,000 and upwards).  There is an auction next week that I will attend.   If any Long Island foreclosure opportunists are out there I would love to connect with you and help out in any way I can.    

As for buying single unit apartments and renting them, the property taxes again eat away on any monthly cash flow. The positive deals that I have analyzed generally have an cash ROI of just over $100/month. In addition, because the Long Island market has been generally stagnant since the crash, capital appreciation is also iffy - so equity remains stagnant. Correct me if my thinking is wrong here.

Anyways, aside from the pessimism - an interesting investing opportunity would be the beach cottages along the north and south forks.  I've come across several on craigslist that are fairly cheap (around a 100,000 or less) that would serve as great summer rentals.  The rental income from the summer months (May-August) alone would cover the annual costs, and the equity on the Forks has more potential of increasing then anywhere else on the Island.  

Open to comments, thoughts, suggestions.  Thanks for taking the time out to read this.  

-Brian