All Forum Posts by: Amanda Gisonni Kittredge

Hi @Joe Jor, I am located in Dutchess County so not quite Westchester but close. I am in the process of building a basement apartment in my primary residence for the purpose of a house hack, which when I sell I can call an "in law suite," if I so choose. I think this is more of marketing term than a legal term. I think the term you are looking for is accessory apartment. Usually this type of unit will need a separate permit / CO (certificate of occupancy). You may also need to get more specific than the county code and check the city/town building code to understand the legal ramifications/specifications of having or building such a unit. Every location will be a bit different. Usually a house that has an accessory apartment is zoned as a single family. I know in some places you must live in the house to rent out the accessory apartment. If you do not want to live there, you may want to try getting it rezoned as a two family.

Amanda Gisonni, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson, New York State

@Alessandro Prioni Once we fix up the basement, we are expecting to rent it out for $1,200-$1,400. It will be a studio apartment, not quite a 1 bedroom. The extra bedrooms we are renting for $900 a month, we currently only have one rented because we think it may be too overwhelming/too many people. The whole house would probably rent for $2,400+.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Beacon.

Purchase price: $335,000
Cash invested: $33,500

I purchased this property in March of 2020 right before the Pandemic hit and was fortunate to get a great low mortgage rate. This is a house hack so I am living with roommates and am in the process of updating the basement which will be a separate apartment that I will rent out.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I was interested in this deal because I was tired of renting and wanted to have a space of my own. I am very frugal and want to be financially independent and doing a house hack will allow me to minimize my monthly housing expenses while covering my mortgage, taxes etc. This is a step forward in the right direction for me to achieve my goals.

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

I am a real estate agent so I found this deal on the MLS. I knew the comps in the area and new this house was in an A neighborhood and needed a little bit of TLC. I knew what price I was willing to pay and what price I would walk away at. And fortunately I did not have to walk away.

How did you finance this deal?

I financed through conventional financing through a local mortgage broker with only 10% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

So far I have boosted curb appeal by power washing the exterior, painting the shutters, removing some old rotting fences and dead trees and bushes. Inside I painted the entire place to give it a modern clean feel, added a kitchen island w/ butcher block. Next step is to fix up the basement to rent out.

What was the outcome?

The outcome is good so far, enjoying the house and not renting. Once the basement is fixed up, it will get rented and we will see some savings.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Lessons learned, so far learned a lot about plumbing, electrical and installing a hot water tank.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I represented myself as an agent on this deal.

Hello, I'm a real estate agent and real estate investor with properties near there in Fishkill, Wappingers and in Beacon. I've used the MLS in the past, which I find to be effective in finding high quality tenants. I also use Cozy for my tenants' payments and maintenance requests. It has a listing feature, I haven't tried it yet but I think it will post to Zillow, Trulia etc. There are also some local Facebook pages for housing rentals and sales.