Seeking Advice on Rehabbing a Long Island Duplex: Costs, Contractors, and Mentorship!

[Sean Mills]

Hello BiggerPockets Community!

I'm new here and looking to get into house hacking by rehabbing a duplex. The duplexes in the area of Long Island I'm looking at cost around $700-800k. I'm trying to figure out what renovation costs I should expect for this type of project.

The real end goal for the duplex isn't necessarily profit. When I move out, I plan to give my side of the duplex to my mother as she plans to retire soon and I don't want her to have to worry about how she's going to afford rent. Because of this, I'm willing to invest more to ensure it's in the best possible condition.

How should I get started with learning about rehabbing properties? Also, any advice on finding and working with contractors would be incredibly helpful. I want to make sure I don't get taken advantage of in the process.

No one in my family or immediate group owns a home, so I'm blind to the whole process and trying to learn/read up on as much as I can. I’m happy to connect with anyone here. While I don’t plan to make this a regular thing, if anyone is open to mentoring for a one-time project or just being someone I can ask questions to throughout the process, I’d appreciate it 10x. I understand time is money when it comes to mentorship, so any amount of help is greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to your insights and advice!

Thanks in advance

[Peter Mckernan]

Quote from @Sean Mills:

Hello BiggerPockets Community!

I'm new here and looking to get into house hacking by rehabbing a duplex. The duplexes in the area of Long Island I'm looking at cost around $700-800k. I'm trying to figure out what renovation costs I should expect for this type of project.

The real end goal for the duplex isn't necessarily profit. When I move out, I plan to give my side of the duplex to my mother as she plans to retire soon and I don't want her to have to worry about how she's going to afford rent. Because of this, I'm willing to invest more to ensure it's in the best possible condition.

How should I get started with learning about rehabbing properties? Also, any advice on finding and working with contractors would be incredibly helpful. I want to make sure I don't get taken advantage of in the process.

No one in my family or immediate group owns a home, so I'm blind to the whole process and trying to learn/read up on as much as I can. I’m happy to connect with anyone here. While I don’t plan to make this a regular thing, if anyone is open to mentoring for a one-time project or just being someone I can ask questions to throughout the process, I’d appreciate it 10x. I understand time is money when it comes to mentorship, so any amount of help is greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to your insights and advice!

Thanks in advance

 J Scott has a good book on rehabbing properties, and there are a lot of other ones out there that will give you great advise! I would suggest that you jump into some local meetups, get connected with local investors and real estate agents who can help you on your path to running numbers and getting your feet wet on actually knowing more of a good hard cost for rehabs.