Flipping in Staten Island, NY

[Viktoria Barrett]

Hello everybody, 

My partner and I reside in  Brooklyn, NY. We want to start flipping, and thought we’d like to start more local. 

Staten Island seems to be an option for us. If anybody here is familiar with its areas, I would love to hear your Opinions about neighborhoods and types of properties (single or multi, town house, etc) 

Thank you! 

[Joseph Ranola]

Hello,

Flipping can be done here, just need to know what you're doing/getting into like anything else. I'm actually currently working with a cash investor who's looking to purchase bank-owned homes or anything of the sort, rehab them and flip them so I've been actively searching the MLS for anything that may work. It's tough to find something that will work, especially on the MLS, but there's definitely deals out there! This is my first time working with someone looking to do this as well so I'm learning a ton as I do it- I was never even interested in flips as I always wanted to buy and hold, but I've seen the light that everyone's talking about- flip homes, make quick money, use some of that to buy rentals and keep flipping as well! I'm the Realtor in my current situation so I'm not the one actually doing the flips, but nonetheless I'd like to get started after saving the commission from helping the investor on a deal or two.

A huge lesson I learned this week is that HOA's can kill a deal before you even get started- we were all set to close on a house I had found them (next Friday was going to be closing!) Nice cash deal, getting the bank-owned home for cheap, it looked to be about a month's work for the contractor and a healthy profit for the owner once it was sold. After re-reviewing everything, the attorney and I had found out that the HOA in this development doesn't allow you to sell or even rent out any home that you buy within one year of purchase- thank God we triple checked and found that!! Needless to say, my investor doesn't want to keep their money tied up for a year while accruing carrying costs so that deal is dead. Lesson learned- always look at HOA's bylaws BEFORE I even pass the listing on to the investor.

Like anywhere else there are great areas and there are really, really rough ones. Everyone is stuck on the "St. George Boom", the area that the Ferry is in and that they're doing all of these huge projects (Empire Outlets, Lighthouse Point, etc). Could some properties still work as a flip there? Sure. Does the fact that even people in Nebraska know about this mean that we probably missed the boat? I think so. Either way, it can be done with the right property- just watch out because in this area specific blocks come into play. One block could be absolutely beautiful and quiet, and the next block over could be a war zone or so infested with drugs that you'd think you're driving through a Walking Dead set. 

With that being said, my personal opinion is that neighborhoods hold less of a concern when doing flips because you're getting right out of them. Of course you do still need to sell the flip so you can't be completely carefree, but it does take less thought, in my book, than if you were to purchase a rental property because then you'd be dealing with possible disaster scenarios for years.

A quick breakdown of Staten Island:

North Shore- The part closer to you as you'll be right there when getting off the Verrazzano. It's more urban, it's more rough in certain areas, it has more going on and is more likely to have the "NYC feel". The Empire Outlets, which just opened up and are nowhere near fully operational yet, are surprisingly beautiful and really cool. Perfect views of the city, cool restaurants and such coming. Sadly, just a few blocks away are one of those Walking Dead sets I was talking about. Time will tell if all of this nice stuff coming will push out the bad. It's an older area of SI because obviously it was the first part to be inhabited by those coming over on ferries from Manhattan and BK, which is also why it's more urban. 

Mid Island- Pretty much broken up into 2 parts, the west shore which is where the mall and what not is, and the east shore which is the boardwalk, beaches and Hylan Boulevard. Most of this is more residential with some neighborhoody feels like New Dorp- for most of New Dorp you'd swear you're in a part of Brooklyn. A lot of properties in this area are from the 1960's and 70's because of the huge boom when the Verrazzano opened in 1964. Older homes, a lot of two families. Bungalows down in New Dorp beach/South Beach. Annoying to get anywhere on the east shore because they're not serviced by any highway whatsoever, just Hylan Boulevard. It keeps most of this area in their own little bubble, luckily they're getting "The Boulevard" at the end of this year, which is a beautiful Main-Street format shopping center with a ton of cool offerings over in New Dorp. Over on the West Shore they're very easily accessible due to all of the highways being there. South Avenue is a big corporate hub and they keep building more buildings to take jobs away from Manhattan and keep people right here on SI. 

South Shore- Typically the "newest" part of the island as it was the last part to be inhabited by other NYers, except for Tottenville which is the southernmost neighborhood and could feel very Brooklyn-ish in parts. Mostly newer homes, a couple of proposed projects like the Galleria, which will be a waterfront esplanade type of shopping center. Very accessible via the highways as well, and just minutes from NJ. The 123 Precinct, which covers the South Shore, has (I believe, don't quote me) the safest statistics in all of NYC. In contrast, the 120 which covers the North Shore, is consistently one of the most dangerous in all of NYC via their crime statistics. 

Anyway, deals are definitely out there, you just need to know what you're doing to mitigate your risk! If I can ever help you, let me know. A lot of people frown upon finding deals on the MLS but Mark Ferguson, who is very active here, has done hundreds of flips and authored several great books, swears by using the MLS. Speak to you soon!