New York City Newbies With Sticker Shock

[Leon Greene]

Hello everyone,

First off, I just wanted to say thanks to the BP community for helping us learn so much about real estate investing. We feel like we have all of the tools and knowledge that is needed to make our first deal, and it's really because of this community and the podcast, as well as a few other amazing REI podcasts.

My wife and I are successful 9-5ers that are hoping to purchase our first property soon. We've been on the hunt with a real estate agent, scouring the various online real estate listings, and picking a neighborhood each weekend to "drive for dollars". 

Our goals on the first property are to find a duplex or triplex that will allow us to live in one unit and rent the remaining, with the hopes of living almost for free, and allowing us to save for more buy and hold properties. Our biggest challenge has been the fact that we live and work in New York City, and have been looking in Brooklyn, Queens, and on Long Island where the price of entry into the market here is so extreme. We need to stay near our jobs in NYC for any of this to realistically work, though.

We're interested in networking with others in the area that may offer some guidance, or even just want to have conversations about investing potential in the area. We're very curious about East New York and Jamaica, two towns that seem to be really on the upswing and are seeing a lot of investor money pumped into them. 

Thanks again for everyone's amazing advice, past and future! 

-Leon and Anna

[Scott Williams]

@Daniel Montes I would certainly give you the name of the realtor I used if I thought they could help. I did all the heavy lifting to find and buy my property in Brownsville. My realtor was useless and the seller realtor was brand new. I wouldn't use either of them again. If I come across a good one I'm happy to let you know. If anyone else knows of a good realtor, I'm always happy to check them out.