All Forum Posts by: Charles Xia

Hi Vickie,

Here are some estimates for you. NYC property taxes are about 1% of the value of the property. (If a house is worth a million dollars then property taxes are $9000 for the year. If a house is worth $500,000 then property taxes are about $5,000 for the year).

In long island New York it's about 2.2%. (If a house is worth a million dollars then property taxes are $20,000 for the year. If a house is worth $500,000 then property taxes are about $10,000 for the year).

I would take a look at overall costs for the property and not just property taxes. Paying property taxes isn't always a terrible thing because you can always write them off on your taxes.

If you're trying to invest it's better to look at debt vs income. In other words how much rent you would get per month and how much the costs of the house would be per month. See if youre cash flow positive that way.

Happy Investing,
Charles

You need to be bank ready meaning you need to show proof of income. Which means you need to get a job. If you have all cash to buy a property you wouldn't need a loan and wouldn't need to deal with the banks. If you do plan on getting a mortgage, and househack or use leverage and borrow money you need to have a job. A bank isn't going to give you a loan if you can't show you have consistent income. You are building your credit so you're on the right path on that.

If you're not in college yet then how do you plan on paying for college. Tuition adds an expense and I don't know if you're going to be able to get a mortgage while you're in college. Lenders usually give loans to full-time workers especially now where Covid-19 tightened up lending.

Alternatively if you have friends or family willing to help you can probably get a property that way. You can also find a partner who's willing to work with you.

From what it seems like take your time. Educate yourself on the areas you're interested in. If you're going to college then look in the college area so instead of paying rent you can pay a mortgage. If you are interested in Orlando learn about what it takes to handle Out of State Investing.

Happy Investing,

Charles

If you look at the appraisal process you can try to mimic the process. They are appraised off recent sales and those properties are evaluated by square feet, bedrooms, finished/unfinished basement, etc. And each one of these factors increase or decrease the value in the appraisal calculation.

Second question is how off are these numbers from Zillow, Realtor, Redfin?

Third question, are you asking for curiousity? You plan on moving forward with something ?

Best,

Charles

Hi @Julio Cruz

As @Abel Curiel said, look into a refinancing option and get your name on the loan, you can also add your name to the title in this process. It's easier to pay of the current debt for the mortgage than to purchase the property for your parents. Purchasing property for your parents would be a good idea if you wanted to give them a lump sum of money, but since they are your parents and you do seem to love them very much you can give them an allowance or something. Better to give them some money than to owe a very large portion of money to the bank.

Happy Investing,

Charles

Hi Gabriela,

It sounds like you want to self-manage and haven't really picked out a neighborhood specifically yet. I would start by drawing a line on how far you are willing to travel to the property either once a month, twice a month etc... and start looking into those neighborhoods. If you don't want to drive an hour every time then search for things within an hour drive.

I can't give you specific advice as I don't know which neighborhoods you plan on looking into. Are you trying to gauge what an up and coming area Upstate?

Happy Investing,

Charles

@Margo Rivera

Typically you have to buy it all cash at a foreclosure auction. You cant look at the property before you buy it.

Banks are a little stricter on lending. They follow their own guidelines and rates. You might have better luck looking at smaller local banks or mortgage brokers. I would suggest speaking with them first to get a good feeling with what you can borrow now. A lot of lending guidelines have changed due because of the pandemic.

@Brian Walters I was also born and raised in Queens!

Good Luck!

Hi @Juan Hernandez,

Nice! Good move on the refinance. You can calculate your own debt to income ratio by adding up your monthly expenses and monthly income. Seems like that would include your car loan and your current mortgage. They also ask for all the credit cards that you have to see if you owe any debt on those cards too even if you pay it in full every month. Depending on the lender they don't really like seeing over 70-80% debt to income. I would take a look at this before you proceed.

I was just saying if you switch your property your home owners insurance is going to go up. Not your interest rate. This is pretty standard for investment properties for home owners insurance to be higher on investment properties. You will keep your current interest rate on your mortgage, that won't be affected by the switch.

Getting a 10% down is pretty hard. The lowest I've seen after speaking with multiple lenders is 15% with PMI. You will probably have to dig a bit to find a lender giving you 10% down. I spoke with maybe 4-5 lenders from different banks and brokerages.

Personally I only think 15% down with PMI is worth it if the location is good and the price is good. PMI adds a lot of monthly expenses.

I hope this helps,

Happy Investing,

Charles

Hi @Juan Hernandez,

As my good friend @Abel Curiel mentioned yes. You will have to declare a new primary residence and switch the old property to an investment property. Your home insurance rates are going to go up a little bit for switching it over to investment property and please make sure your Debt-to-Income ratio is in good standing before you proceed. I assume you still have the original loan and you need to make sure the monthly debt comes down. You could refinance to get the number down. Just another thing to consider. Your interest rate wouldn't go up because you didn't acquire the loan as an investment which is the best way to do it! (Interest rates are at an all time low now). 

Congrats on the househack!

Happy Investing,

Charles

Hi Danny,

If you are living in the property you can look into FHA loans where you can require less than 20% down.

Try to determine the scope of your rental property. IF you want to house hack you can do an FHA and then have tenants cover part of the mortgage. You will still be paying out of pocket because it will not cash flow and multi family houses in NYC are expensive. I guess this is still better than paying rent but try to determine what fits your goals. Are you staying in Manhattan temporarily?

If you just want to have a closer commute you can look into getting a coop in Manhattan and finding a roommate or rent out the coop after you've lived in it. Some coops allow you to sublet, others do now. you have to check the coop rules.

I would probably sacrifice commute time and get a multifamily in the Bronx/Queens/Brooklyn if you really want to get started in real estate investing.

Happy Investing,

Charles