Fresh Grad, Looking to House Hack in Brooklyn/Queens

[Alex Shpylko]

Hey, guys. First post here. I’m currently working in Manhattan in the financial industry, paying a ton for rent (1.7K). I’m looking to move to Brooklyn in about a year when my lease is up and buy a live-in rental and rent out spare rooms or spare units if I’m fortunate enough to find a good deal for a multifamily. I'm fairly handy, worked a tiny bit in construction, so any non - structural work I'm able to do on my own, so rehabbing a unit while I live in it is doable (and fun) for me. 

I’m currently looking to explore the market on a more personal level and I’m considering becoming a part-time RE agent (a leasing agent most likely, but nonetheless) to get more hands-on and see the market for myself. Do you have any advice for me? Anything helps, I’m all ears as I’m entirely new and have yet to purchase my first property. Additionally, do you have any recs for brokers to partner with as an agent potentially?

[Abel Curiel]

Originally posted by @Alex Shpylko:

Hey, guys. First post here. I’m currently working in Manhattan in the financial industry, paying a ton for rent (1.7K). I’m looking to move to Brooklyn in about a year when my lease is up and buy a live-in rental and rent out spare rooms or spare units if I’m fortunate enough to find a good deal for a multifamily. I'm fairly handy, worked a tiny bit in construction, so any non - structural work I'm able to do on my own, so rehabbing a unit while I live in it is doable (and fun) for me. 

I’m currently looking to explore the market on a more personal level and I’m considering becoming a part-time RE agent (a leasing agent most likely, but nonetheless) to get more hands-on and see the market for myself. Do you have any advice for me? Anything helps, I’m all ears as I’m entirely new and have yet to purchase my first property. Additionally, do you have any recs for brokers to partner with as an agent potentially?

Hello Alex and welcome to the BP forums!

You're in the right place to get answers to your questions. In addition to the forums, I'd recommend using the 'search' function to find more information on the topics and areas of interest that best fit what you're looking to do.

My recommendations would be:

1. Do not get your RE license to be a part-time agent and learn the business. You'll pay licensing fees, MLS fees, broker fees, errors and omissions insurance, and spend 75-hours taking a course that will not teach you much more than you already know about RE. If you're getting licensed, it should be with the intention of taking this on as a career and unless you want to do Sales (cold-calling, database management, lead conversion, and 100 other jobs associated with being a Realtor) I wouldn't recommend this. If you're still unsure about whether or not to take this route, purchase 'The Millionaire Real Estate Agent' by Gary Keller. That will give you insight on what to expect and should help you make your decision. ** Gary also wrote 'The Millionaire Real Estate Investor' which is another great read.

2. Connect with an investor-friendly Realtor in your market. Finding the right Realtor will help save you the time and $ associated with recommendation #1 AND you'll get all that you're looking for which is someone to keep you up to date on the market, help you find/negotiate a deal and everything in between.

3. Find a househack deal that has additional income potential - via an additional dwelling unit (ADU), parking income, storage income, and/or laundry income. This will allow you to maximize your investment just by spotting out small opportunities that traditional homebuyers would overlook.

Lastly, I think your strategy of househacking and/or renting by the room is solid. Keep in mind, $1,700 is actually not that bad for NYC rents! You'll likely collect more than that from each of the units you rent out in your househack property next year. In the meantime, keep researching the market whether by using free online resources (zillow, realtor.com, streeteasy, etc.) or connecting with an experience professional with knowledge on your target market(s).

Best of luck to you moving forward!

Abel