All Forum Posts by: Adam Gelman

Id be happy to talk with you Paul 

@Charlene Isoh Thanks for reaching out. I do echo @Steve B. comments.  If you are looking in the city of Albany for a house that you can be all in for $50k and rent to students, I think you will have a very hard time finding anything remotely close.  In the student area, on the very low end if you're lucky you can find something small for 75 to 100k but they are very few and far between.  Most would also still need significant work.  If you are looking to definitely rent to students, I would suggest leveraging your $50k and purchasing something a little more turn key in the $150k range. 

In Troy, the numbers are a little better and if you can concentrate on RPI students there is a little less wear and tear to the apartments. 

If you want to stick to $50k cash, you are going to need to look into lower income neighborhoods. If you are looking to run your investment like a business and willing to take on a little more risk in vacancy, bad debt and repairs, the rewards can be great.  

I think you should iron our your goals a little more specifically and figure out what is important to you.  Do you want monthly income, tax benefits, appreciation, and investment vs a job, hands on or hands off management, etc. Then you can dial in what fits and works best for you. 

I am happy to talk about this stuff all day.  Feel free to reach out with any other questions. 

Hi @Rose Stuart

You don't want to be too tough in the ad, but specifics will help.  If you only have one or a couple of apartments to rent I would be specific.  If you just want the phone to ring be more open. 

Personally, I wouldn't put a credit score qualification in there because many people don't know theirs or think its worse than it is.  You may miss some people that you would have actually taken.  However, being specific about the apartment it self and then income qualifications should help reduce calls that waste your time.  

I think Al's 3x rule is a good one or just do the math and put it in for that specific apartment. 

Hi Everyone, 

I have been listening to the BP podcast for a while now and have really enjoyed them, as well as the web site.  

I started out my real estate career investing in property on my 21st birthday, back in 2001.  My main focus was the student rental market in the city of Albany.  At the time I was a UAlbany student and didn't know what I was going to do with the rest of my life, as everyone kept asking over and over as graduation was rapidly approaching.  I didn't know much about real estate, but I knew I wanted to be in business for myself. 

We met a great real estate agent, and began our journey.  It was pretty wild at first, at least for me.  I was a Sr in college, student athlete, and over night we had 20 units and I was also a landlord.  We kept growing over the next six months and eventually amassed close to 60 units.  

At that time I had graduated from college and started working for a contractor to help me learn how to fix many of the issues that would come up when owning old real estate. Eventually, I became sick of smashing my fingers with a hammer and had learned enough to know the contractor side of things was not where I wanted to spend my time.  I thought the next logical step would be to get my real estate license. I went to the classes, took the tests and in Feb of 2003 was a licensed Realtor.  

Since then my journey has been fun with many ups and downs as you may know from 2003 to now with the real estate market. We eventually amassed close to 100 units and I had also started a  property management company.  I figured if I was doing all this work on my own units, why not help others with their properties.  Albany has many out of town investors that I was helping buy houses, and why not then be full service.  It worked out well.  I was able to have almost full time contractors for my own properties at good rates because I kept them so busy, then be able to pass that savings along to my clients.  

Around 2007 we sold many of our properties, keeping only the ones that I purchased on my own and had a different business model for than when we originally set out.  I continued to manage property for others as it was still mutually beneficial. I also stepped in the franchise restaurant world around that time.  It was quite the journey again.  After trying to figure out if it was better to have employees or tenants, I chose tenants. 

Since then and continued today, I am a full time realtor, landlord, and property manager.  I specialize in student housing mostly, as well higher end rentals and my partner specializes in lower income housing.  We have a full time team that can handle all of our clients needs. From the basement to the attic, and from defining an investment strategy to the closing table. 

I look forward meeting more and more people from BP and hope I can be of help to others as well! 

Hi David,

I am a Realtor and investor in Albany NY. I just joined bigger pockets, and saw your post. 

It depends one a number of things but you can buy a two family house in Albany for between $50-75k cash and get a good return on your investment. Typically it would generate $1400-1800 in rent with around $3,000 in taxes probably around $1,000 in insurance and $500 for water (all yearly) 

The neighborhoods are a little on the rougher side and many of the tenants are subsidized, but with good management can be a good return for you. 

You could also leverage more and use your cash as a down payment and closing costs in some better neighborhoods, renting to college students or professionals. 

Happy to help if your interested in the Albany area.