Multifamily Investing in Northeast 2020?

[Miguel Rosendo]

Hello Bigger Pockets Investors!

    I am 23 years old living in NYC and unfortunately I have no intention of leaving any time soon but would love to take advantage of low interest rates and leverage up to start building my real estate portfolio. I have been listening to the podcast for a long time and I think  it would be great time to buy a multi-family rental property. Although I think I could gather up the funds to pay a 20% down payment on a 300k mortgage, I would rather house-hack for a year and put 3% down so that I can have more liquidity (splitting my time 60/40). Because of this I am also considering livability but I think it would also be feasible for me to continue renting in NYC and absorbing vacancy costs until the units are filled.

    However there are no 300k multi family homes in NYC and as far as I understand it buying in NJ is not tax friendly and I don't know the suburbs around NYC enough to buy around there. I am looking to invest in the Albany area as I know it fairly well and prices are cheap but I am open to hear peoples experiences investing in CT or PA or anywhere else you guys have managed to get a solid cashflow/roi. 

Thank you for your help!

[Filipe Pereira]

Hi @Miguel Rosendo, I live in CT and am active in the real estate space by being a investor, agent and property manager. 

CT is finally starting to see some price appreciation after remaining largely stagnant over the last few years. That being said, when using the popular "1% rule" we still come in at around 1.2-1.3%, which of course exceeds the 1% rule. I'm a fan of the Hartford county area (some would call it north central CT), but to be fair, it's all I've ever known.

When compared to it's immediate neighbors (NY/NJ/MA) CT is the most landlord friendly of the four, which isn't saying much because each of those states is pretty left leaning, but I'd choose the less of all evils. Feel free to tag me in your next post if you have any questions.

300K will get you a 2-3 family in a B/C neighborhood if you're patient up here right now.