Becoming A REI In New York City?

[Jason Eyerly]

Hello Everyone,

So I've finally relocated to New York City. Hurray for that! It's been a lot of work and a long time coming for me to get into my new career. I've been on Biggerpockets, actively, for a long time now and I have learned tons of new information. My goal is to take a majority of the money from my new job and begin my REI here in Manhattan, but I'm not sure exactly how to go about it in Manhattan.

    My career as a professional trader means I will only have free time outside the hours of 8:00-4:30 so the idea is that while I would get things rolling, the real estate would be left to my fiancee once she obtains her license here in New York City. While we build capital to invest with, she will likely go to work for a brokerage to learn the ropes and how things work.

   All that being said, we both have excellent credit (750+) and I have a six figure income, plus whatever she makes, and we are going to be married in September. I'm not sure how to begin investing in Manhattan because things are so much different here. I think I may be able to qualify for a regular mortgage, but with single bedroom apartments going for $500,000 to start I would think that I would be very limited in how many mortgages I could get to acquire properties to rent out, with bigger apartments as much as $3,000,000. We had considered buying a multi-family and renting out all the units we aren't living in for two years to acquire our first property, but the New York limits are all less than $1,000,000 far from being able to purchase a multi-family. 

So, after all the blabbering and information, I guess my questions are these:

1) How does anyone obtain a property with an FHA loan in New York City?

2) How many mortgages are you limited to? I've been told it's 4 even if the units are rented and showing a positive cash flow, and the best idea from there is to look into a HELOC to put down payments on further properties.

3) Is buying fixer-uppers with loans, private funds, or HMLs viable in the city as well assuming you can still get the properties at 70% FMV or less?

4) What's different? What's more difficult? What's easier?

5) Are there any recommended REI groups in Manhattan?

Thank you so much to anyone who offers help and advice. It's much appreciated.

Best Regards,

Jason E.