Roofstock Deal - Beginner Analysis (Requesting for Help/Advice)

[Eddie L.]

Some Background

I'm a complete newbie living in New York. I never invested in real estate before but am definitely interested. Unfortunately my W-2 job really doesn't give me time to attempt more time intensive strategies like BRRRR or Fix & Flip and I don't have any connections who are interested in doing so. I have a primary residence and was sadly not via house hacking. This was before I learned about all the benefits of real estate. I'm considering a turnkey property with property management as my first real estate investment. Pay a premium sure but at least get some real exposure to real estate and it's a start, right?

Questions
I found this deal on roofstock. Have a lot of questions not really specific to this property but in general using this one as an example.

https://www.roofstock.com/inve...

1. As any real estate property, I think I should do the due diligence of actually driving over there and seeing the neighborhood. When surveying the neighborhood, what would you typically look for? Crime, restaurants, shopping, business districts, etc.?

2. When observing the property from the outside and its surroundings, how would you evaluate it as a beginner with no construction or real estate experience? Like how can I judge if the roof looks good or anything else that may come at a hefty price to maintain or fix in the short term?

3. In terms of deal analysis i.e. the numbers, based on all of roofstock's assumptions with a 20% down this seems like a great deal. How do you typically analyze the numbers here? It's positive cashflow ~$300/month even with 20% down so I think that's a good start. How do you confirm each of the assumptions made by roofstock? 

     1. 3% Annual Rent Growth - Is there a way to verify this? Ask for the ledger and see if the tenants were actually paying rent with a 3% increase in recent years?

     2. 5% Vacancy Factor - There's no way to confirm this right? Besides... maybe asking if others here happen to invest in the same area and see how their vacancies are like?     

    3. Property Tax - Based on public records, the property tax is current assessed at a tax value of $121,800. Does that mean that if I pay the asking price of $175,000 then that becomes the new tax value and the property tax will be higher?

  4. Property Management - This is just based on agreement with property management company hired for the property. Is there like a yelp kind of review website for property management companies to compare them?

5. Repairs, Maintenance, and Capex - I feel like this is probably the hardest to analyze? How do you have a good estimate for how much you expect to pay or set aside for these?