All Forum Posts by: Christopher Stanis

Isiah Ferguson there is a lot... and I mean a lot of downside to the war zone. Gang bangers and drugs, high turnover rates, bedbugs, and greater amounts of maintenance. I wouldn't recommend it for your first or second rental because the learning curve will be steeper than with working class rentals. With this disclaimer, money can still be made here, for the right owner. **SECTION 8** this can be a good program to work with. In my area, There is a waiting list for this program. The applicants can't have any recent drug or criminal offenses (last 2 years I believe). If they do get busted, they get kicked out of the program. And the gvmt sends the check directly to you, not the tenant. Uncle Sam is very consistent about paying on time. So there is some incentive. One of the successful local investors I know has 180 units they rent in the hood- mostly section 8 tenants, and people on prison release programs. They rent to the people who are 1 step away from being homeless. Almost all their tenants get subsidies from charities or gvmt organizations. They run 5% vacancy, and they pay some of the lowest property tax rates around. Oh, and they also make a VERY good amount of money. 1-2 units, won't generate that profit. But if you are assertive and aggressive about property management, it can go a long way to keeping people paying. **LESS COMPETITION** this is MY Upside.. While the hoity- toity investors stick their nose up at the hood, you can buy a bunch of property with no money down. I've found it's easy to find absentee or burnt out older landlords in these areas. After 30 years, they don't want to do it anymore and are looking to sell. If you're the only buyer knocking on their door, you can ask for terms such as owner financing with 5k down. For reference, I recently bought a set of (C- ) property from an owner for 300k. Managed properly, it's going to be worth 480k. It's 21 units. The tenants are half DSS and Section 8, the other half work min wage. Since buying in January, we've evicted 2 tenants, 2 more moved on their own, and we've rented 5 units. My last 2 vacant units need rehabbed to be rented. Oh, and I only put 10k down... easy to negotiate when I'm the only buyer in sight. Next year, this property will be making 28k after mortgage and all expenses. For me- Section 8 programs and negotiating killer deals with no Money down because I'm the only buyer in sight are my upside. Still, I would start with blue collar neighborhoods for your first few rentals. Good luck

Thanks for the extra input @Gary Kline. 

Originally posted by @Sandro Hagenbuch:

What has been the impact of the new campus that is opening this year so far on rentals? Has anyone had sizable losses/vacancies?

Sandro- their hasn't been a noticeable difference yet. There are a handful of investors who've scooped up some property near the Johnson City campus. It seems like most students are still interested in the West Side of Binghamton or downtown though. Most of the night life and restaurants in town are located there. I see a lot of students preferring to live near where they can have an active social life.  If you're still buying Student rentals, I would continue looking at Downtown Bing and the West-side. 

The briefest answer is that your friend should get with a lawyer experienced in commercial real estate contracts. Any given contract will have its own unique clauses, and will spell out many of the contingencies he may be concerned about.

I use a PO box on my rental property. It's easy to go to the post office or other mail carrier once a week. And when you have to evict someone, your wife may sleep better at night. Besides, it takes effort to look at the county website for an address. A lot of tenants may be too lazy to do this.

@Keisha F.

Binghamton NY is a massively cheap market, and we're just about 2 hrs from NYC. It's common to buy fixer upper homes in my market for 15-25k, and homes in good shape that are rent ready at 50-70k. Rents often fall in the 2% rule range. Ie- a house you buy for 50k will often rent for around 1000/month. It's like little Detroit. 

And in reply to @Anthony Dooley- he's correct that every purchase requires money. I would clarify that there are dozens of ways to buy property without using YOUR OWN money. A few of my favorites have been using 0% interest credit cards, and asking the seller to do owner financing. (I've done commercial deals with 5% down and 0% down on a purchase. I've also had an owner finance 30% of my loan at 0% money.) The more motivated the seller is, the more creative you can get to buy properties where you don't have a traditional 25% downpayment. 

Braden Smith - thanks for the feedback. I've actually had two local brokerages say they weren't excited about having investors as agents because of potential liability,and one who welcomed investors.

buy 100 units. 

Hey BP!

I know there are plenty of arguments for getting a real estate sales person license, and a few against. My question though, is does having a real estate license affect my ability to purchase and buy off-market pre-foreclosures? I do a lot of my own marketing and have distressed sellers reach out to me often. Specifically, I'm looking at buying and flipping vacant land, and buying houses and selling as a lease to own option. 

I have rentals and investments in both PA and NY. Thanks!

Hi BP community, Anyone here have experience renting out rooming houses? My brother and I are purchasing a 99 unit portfolio, which happens to include an 11 bed and a 13 bed rooming house. Both are zoned and permitted as rooming houses, and both are currently vacant (mostly in rent ready condition though). Are there any suggestions for renting these buildings out in a way that would minimize management time and expense? We have several ideas in mind so far: 1. Student rentals, as we are about 4 blocks away from the local college. Since we're closing in January, the buildings might not be occupied until August for fall semester. 2. Gas well drillers: these buildings had been occupied by Marcellus Shale gas workers over the last few years- the buildings tend to have 100% occupancy or 100% vacancy with these crowds. 3. Local charities - foster kids, veterans groups etc. how long ahead might this take to fill? 4. Converting units to 1+2 bdrm apartments. This will cost the most money and will be outside our budget for at least a few years. Thoughts, experience, and recommendations?