All Forum Posts by: Amos Mainville

Quote from @Pravit Jarriyapurttipong:

Would below property good?

https://www.zillow.com/homedet...

 Like any... it could be. Not the best and not the worst area. Pulling the taxes ($2600 currently) it looks like the assessment is low so plan on taxes going up in the future at reassessment. 

Utilities are separate except water bills. Water remains with the landlord in this city. Doesn't mean it can't be billed to the tenant just make sure to ask for leases.

Make sure to get a copy of the Rental Property Registration from code enforcement for any property you are making an offer on. This will be a biannual filing with Code for $50 and accompanied by an inspection. Dont fret its an easy inspection. Any decent property should pass.

Things I see about the property. You only have brief photos of 1 unit. What does the other look like? Often missing photos of the interior are a red flag for me. The railings on the front steps will likely need replacement (they don't look secure) or atleast a coat of paint. Plan on budgeting to gut that carpet after 2-5 years depending on tenant. LVP flooring is my go to for durable flooring that adapts well to our housing inventory. Many homes in the area have unlevel floors. Just the nature of building a city on shale. 

I would say it's worth a tour atleast. Video or in person.

 Thanks so much for your reply. I can check the condition of the house by using inspector, right? Would area around LECOM good? Where is the good area?

What do you mean "Use the equity maybe to find some repairs."

I will join your group now.

Thanks

In regards to the College... students are required to live on campus. Don't plan on targeting student population. Unlike many college towns, students don't leave campus and the college really doesn't bring much to our city. 


As a home inspector, we are regulated by NY as to the minimum requirements of what we look at. We call out primarily safety defects but also identify issues around maintenance.  

Quote from @Pravit Jarriyapurttipong:

Quote from @Daniel Whiddon:

Be careful buying in Elmira. As with all cities, there are good locations and bad, good tenants and bad ones, and good houses and bad houses. Keep an eye out for foundation, structure and roof damage in this area. Get your tenants screened through something like apartments.com, and do the repairs before they become an issue. Use the equity maybe to find some repairs. 

I have 5 in the area that are going great. Also, join the entrepreneur and small business owners of NY Facebook group. We are having a meetup in the Elmira area soon and I'd love to tag up. Good luck! 

 Thanks so much for your reply. I can check the condition of the house by using inspector, right? Would area around LECOM good? Where is the good area?

What do you mean "Use the equity maybe to find some repairs."

I will join your group now.

Thanks

Elmira is a tricky city. I own and operate Chemung Valley Home Inspection LLC in addition to owning Chemung Valley Properties with several Elmira properties. This can be a tough city to try and long distance invest in. You need a solid team and solid inspection process. Many contractors take your money and disappear. Similarly there's plentiful quantity of bad tenants that know how to play games. The city code enforcement will beat up new landlord's while letting existing slums run on.

The housing stock itself is majority very dated. If it's a "deal" in the current market be prepared for deep repairs. We have been very picky in our acquisitions yet still invest 5k in every property to stabilize. We evaluated 45 properties to buy 4. 

Good vs Bad areas: This is a mixed bag of issues. It can be a block by block basis. West Elmira is all pretty solid but the prices reflect that. FYI.. a realtor cannot legally tell you what areas are good or bad. 

Why don't tenants just buy? Most do not have credit. Many live on disability or section 8. A great deal do not have the skills or ambition to purchase. In my case the majority of my tenants have some form of disability preventing transition to ownership. 

I am not saying success in Elmira can't be done. Just to be careful. A fantastic realtor and property manager in the area is Lauren Groth. I have seen her turn nightmare tenants into positive leases. She has a wide range of contacts for maintenance and will go above and beyond for her clients. 

Brian hit the nail on the head. 

Give some details and we might be interested.

I don't recommend it but this guy tried a strategy I haven't seen before...

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2...

What particular information are you seeking?

Big fan of Rosetti in Corning NY

will pull fees later

DM sent

Happy to help as an inspector that is also a property investor.

Amos

I'm Heavily invested in Elmira NY (an hour southwest of Cortland). A very similar demographic and spread of housing. Cortland has everything from Sect 8 to student housing to high end rental. What strategy are you looking to target?

Student rental seems to have maintained through covid outside of when many schools went digital and students looked to break leases.

The lower end rent for us has been consistently paid. 4 tenants, all on disability, all paid through pandemic. 

Low end rents that aren't on disability have seen higher numbers of people trying to play the system. From other landlords much larger than I in the area, I hear they are around 10-20% late or unpaid rents.

As a licensed NY home inspector serving the Cortland area I offer this information. When I was looking to buy 3 duplexes last year, I set fairly strict criteria. New to Mid life mechanicals in place (Water heater, electric panels, furnaces), no foundation issues (with a condition of accepting damp basements, nature of the typical stack stone foundation popular in the area), no major exterior defects (didn't want to deal with roofing going into winter), rent ready (legally had to accept tenants in place of course). Inherited tenants would need to be long term.
We evaluated 40 properties, offered on 10, closed 3.

Similar to the national trend this year inventory was moving at record pace through 2020 and is now at record lows. Anything that is on the market more than a week typically has some major issue although there are unicorns. Cortland duplexes tend to trend between 80-120k. 

Amos Mainville

Chemung Valley Home Inspection LLC

ARV is laughable. The average price in this current market which is hot is still around 80. Maybe a pristine flip brings you 115. At the current price of materials plus labor thats not happening. Move on