All Forum Posts by: Brittany Lischinsky

Hi, there is a long time abandoned house I am interested in purchasing. The title to the house appears with the town tax office to still be in the original homeowners' names, but the taxes are being paid by Select Portfolio Servicing.  The home is an eyesore in a nice neighborhood and would make a great flip.  Select has been paying the taxes for almost 20 years so I understand the town can't do anything to force a sale of the home. I've tried calling SPS to speak to them about purchasing the home but I can't get through to an actual person to speak to. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to get in touch with a person at SPS? Also, does anyone know what the legal status of this house might be (title still in the homeowners' names but the taxes being paid by SPS)? Thank you! 

Hi! Everyone's responses here have been helpful as I am looking into insurance for my own first STR right now. I wanted to see if anyone has feedback on Proper versus Safely or Foremost. The Proper insurance agent sent me a video about a guy who had a Foremost policy and then Foremost did not cover damage done to his house by guests. Of course Proper has been telling me about how they cover anything and everything that could happen to the property but it's also the most expensive quote I've gotten. Any advice on whether that level of coverage is really necessary? For those of you with other policies, did you have them write the policies to include everything Proper does or are you just trying to mitigate the risk by screening your renters well? Thank you!

@Gregory Caccioppoli congratulations! What an awesome deal you were able to put together and the house is beautiful. The size of the numbers you have to work with in Scarsdale and other areas in westchester can be intimidating but this is a great example to see if how it can work out as well.

Was this your first new construction deal?

How did you find your hard money lender?

@Emily Baratta did you end up finding an out of state investment? I'm in the NYC area as well and have been debating between an out of state turn key investment or trying to find something driving distance upstate. Would love to hear about your experience. 

@David Lant just found this thread as I am looking into Newburgh. Did you end up buying anything there? If so, are you happy with it? 

@Gabe Viteri can you use this type of loan for a property that is solely being rented out or do you have to be living in one unit (or the entire SFH) to get this type of loan?

@Jaysen Medhurst thanks! That’s all really helpful info! I live in Eastchester, NY and my fiancé and I both work demanding jobs in the city so we can’t move any further away from the city either and also don’t have a ton of time to manage ourselves so we’re all about a management co. We’re still figuring out a strategy as we do research into different ideas. We would like to build a portfolio of multi family homes (2-3 families). We think we can start by buying 1, 2-3 family home in the next year/year and a half but we’re still doing research to figure out the best location to target and what type of financing we would want to use. There are so many options out there for financing and I’m a lawyer so I personally feel like I need to fully understand something before I make a decision or just jump in. Initially we were trying to find areas where the homes we buy would appreciate as well as cash flow but as we’ve learned more about this it seems appreciation is a nice bonus but not necessary to start buying properties that can still be beneficial for us.

@Jaysen Medhurst those are all areas we would be fine buying in. We’re not quite sure how close/far we should be to our rental properties. We would be automating everything and probably even getting a property manager depending on how far it is from where we live. But this is part of what we’re trying to figure out. How far are your rentals from where you live? How close/far would you recommend being?

@Joe Jor thank you for sharing your experience. Good to know there are some options maybe in New Rochelle. We aren’t ready to buy just yet (currently paying for our wedding) so I’ll keep an eye on the market in the next year or so and see if more options start to pop up.

Hi All! 

I'm excited to have just joined the BP forum. I've been researching investing in real estate for about a year now.  I have been running into a few questions that I haven't been able to find answers to and are inhibiting me from figuring out what my target first property should be. I live in lower Westchester County, NY which is a pretty expensive market, so some of the advice that's applicable in other less competitive markets doesn't seem to work as well here. Would love to hear any and all answers and advice about the below questions (and any other advice you have for a newbie). Looking forward to hearing from you all. Thanks! 

1. I have looked at a number of multifamily properties all over Westchester but can't seem to find one that will cash flow enough due to high housing prices and high taxes. Is there anyone here who invests in multi family homes in this area? In what areas specifically have you been able to find a property that cash flows? Are there more off-market opportunities here that I should be putting effort into finding instead of looking on MLS?

2. If you have run into the same issue I describe in #1 and have decided to invest somewhere else within driving distance but not in Westchester, where did you invest (NJ, CT, upstate NY, etc.)? Are you happy with the cash flow in that area? 

3. I'm also considering investing out of the region (in the mid-west or south) but am hesitant to do so for my first property.  Have you invested a plane ride away from where you live for your first property? How did/is it going? Would you recommend this route to a first time investor?