Alternative Investment Strategies for the Boston Market

[Andrew Easterling]

Hi all, 

This is my first post on bigger pockets, happy to be finally engaging with you all. I've been lurking and listening to the podcast for some time now. 

For the past year my girlfriend and I have had a plan to move out of Boston buy a duplex that cashflows and slowly start building a portfolio of properties. Recently we've started to consider the possibility of staying in Boston. She has parents here who are willing to help out with our first purchase to some degree and they have experience flipping houses. It seems that cashflowing in Boston is not easy to do however and duplexes are stupid expensive in this market. We qualify for a 650k mortgage on a single family, around 750k on a duplex/multi. A triplex or more is complicated because it seems we'd need a large cash reserve after closing to be able to buy the property. We'd also prefer to take out something closer to 350 or 400k so we can afford the mortgage on our own if we ever have tenant problems. My girlfriend is an architect, I've done some renovations in the past and am willing to build sweat equity, her parents have know how and connections around renovating houses. 

This all being said, my question to you all is, what are some strategies we could look at if we were trying to invest in the Boston housing market? Can condo flips work? Can we actually find a cashflowing multi family with so little money? Should we leave the market and go to an easier one? I'm starting to think we might just not have enough money to do anything serious in this market. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm looking forward to the interesting conversation that I hope will follow.

Best,

Andrew