Househack in Syracuse, NY - First Property!

[Christina Carroll]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Syracuse.

Purchase price: $154,000
Cash invested: $20,000

First househack, based in the Lyncort neighborhood. Tenant came with the property and is excellent. It's not making us money for now, but cutting down significantly on our living expenses and setting us up for the next property. Not quite a flip, but we're doing basic repair and updates to clean the place up for higher rents when we move out.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This was on the MLS for about 3 days when we toured it. Put in an offer the next morning for asking, and it was accepted the same day. Our realtor was familiar with the seller and the seller's agent, so I think he knew the right buttons to push to make it happen.

How did you finance this deal?

FHA loan, 3.5% down. Saved up the 3.5% and had enough left over for some light renovations (still in progress).

Lessons learned? Challenges?

This is more of a fixer-upper than we originally expected, but we're looking forward to using this property as a learning opportunity. Understanding what types of upgrades and fixes we can handle, learning basic maintenance, managing just one tenant, familiarizing ourselves with the purchasing process, etc.