Kingston, NY Waterfront Multi Family with Commercial Space

[Emily Gorski]

I saw a 2 apartment building with a commercial space on the 1st floor in the Roundout section of Kingston, NY.  Commercial space is going to be empty since they were paying a ridiculously cheap $450/mo for years (about 750 sq feet) and the apartments are both occupied by long time tenants on month- month leases. Each paying $850/month, both 1 Bed, 1 Bath but 3rd floor unit could be potentially converted to two small bedrooms. Large backyard- access from tenants building and commercial space. Asking 499k.  

I haven't spent a ton of time in this district of Kingston but was pleasantly surprised by the amount of retail, restaurants etc that have popped up in the past year.  From some research it seems like these apartments are a bit under priced.  For what it's worth I had a great feeling about the area.

I like the idea of long-term rentals, but the commercial space has thrown me for a loop. Another thought was to eventually convert the top floor unit into a two bedroom Airbnb.  (I own an Airbnb property in the Catskills, so I know the drill here.)

I am missing a few numbers to pull off a full analysis of this deal which I am working on getting now but wanted to throw out the question: Given I am a complete newbie at multi family does the commercial space sound too risky even if the numbers work out?

[Jared Gettinger]

Hi Emily, for what it's worth, yes that area is basically turned around, just as Uptown has. It's also fetching prices that are beginning to look out of line with typical cashflow returns, as the cats out of the bag in Kingston, especially in those areas. It's probably a wonderful property and if it works for your intentions and investment strategy, then kudos. With that said, you could likely find a property, in Midtown perhaps, that throws off similar income/cashflow for half the price.