All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I really, really wish I'd found this extremely informative thread a month ago. I'm just about to finish handwriting over 900 yellow letters to properties in East New York (mostly multifamilies) that I selected after screening over 10,000 properties online. I'm so far into it that I'm just going to finish the project anyway and see how it goes, but it's very helpful to know that a typed, professional letter is better for multifamilies and that direct mail might not be the best method in NYC.

Does anybody know if yellow letters have a higher response rate on SFHs in areas that are very far from Manhattan? Rockaway, Jamaica, etc? Strangely, I think I'm going to miss the systematic, repetitive, hand-numbing work and I'd like to continue doing it if I can find criteria that makes it work for me in the city. Or maybe northern NJ....

Great, thank you all! Extremely helpful. I'll definitely look into every single one of your suggestions - I'm all about covering as many options as possible before moving on a deal.

Please let me know if I can help you in any way. Hope we can work together in the future.

I just sold my first duplex a couple weeks ago (bought in fall '15) and I'm looking for my second deal. I'm hoping to buy-and-hold or BRRR in areas along the New Jersey Transit with $450k - $500k cash to work with (though I'm open to exploring more creative financing). Which areas should I start looking at?

I could also use some help learning about NJ population movement, housing supply, employment, planned public utilities, transportation, etc, if you know of any resources. I'll read anything - reports and studies are welcome.

And feel free to message me if you have a buyers list I can be added to. Thank you!

@Leon L., congrats and thanks! Feel free to message me if you'd like to share some of your strategies, haha!

Best of luck to you with your goals - hopefully we can work together in the future.

@Mike Carino

Yup, we've got most of that down. Ordered a title search with Title One which should get emailed to me any day now (I mailed them a check a week ago). One of the three partners lives in Detroit - he's agreed to be the property manager and live in one of the properties if that's optimal. We're in the midst of writing out a formal contract for him. Still don't have a contractor for immediate professional jobs, though - do you have any recommendations?

We're planning to meet with an estate lawyer soonish to discuss the best structure for our partnership (or maybe an LP if that turns out to be best). The two of us who live in NYC definitely plan on following general advice and looking nearby for our next project, been meeting with a few realtors up here. It's shocking how few of them know of the 1% or 2% rule! Couldn't believe it.

...this is just to finish the story.

My partners and I (3 total, now) visited the city about a month ago and inspected 150+ properties. We knocked on every single door and talked to as many tenants and neighbors as we could. We've selected our top five properties, registered our LLC and have set our bidding maximums for the second round with overall goals for each home.

@Joshua Woolls @Mike Carino, thanks for the advice!

Welcome, @Kasey Sulheim! I'm a total newb like you so I can't really help out much, but hopefully we can work together someday.

@Michael Borger, do you have any tips on how to find qualified tenant-buyers for a sandwich lease? I've located a potential seller, but I'm not sure what to do next.

Congrats, @Stephen Lovett! Nice to hear there are at least a few success stories out there.

First, thanks for your help and warnings.

I have to confess that I initially jumped onto the Detroit train after reading all of the glorified, romanticized coverage. A significant portion of my friends are rock musicians and I had just read Richard Florida's book "Rise of the Creative Class" - combined with the media, all signs seemed to point to Detroit. 

I understand now how stupid and naive I was. I wish that I'd chosen my first area a bit more wisely. I will be moving on from Detroit after this project and will choose my next area based on statistics rather than media narrative.

However, I'm still hoping to buy a small number of unimproved lots with low property taxes - hopefully all on the same block. I've spent hundreds of hours on the Loveland site and used it to select empty lots in areas along Woodward Ave and in Greenlawn, Indian Village, neighborhoods along the water, as well as a small handful in Grandmont East/West and Outer Drive East.

A friend of mine has a passion for urban gardening, city rebuilding and a "frontier lifestyle" in rough areas - he's planning on moving to Detroit to create community gardens with a couple of organizations that are already there. If none of the organizations will accept the use of the land, he's agreed to maintain it (in order to avoid the fees for unkempt lawns, dumping, etc). I've tried to warn him against moving to Detroit, but he's...like that. I suppose I might be, too. We (and another newbie to property) are visiting in late July/early August. Maybe we'll have some sanity shocked into us then.

In my mind, the worst that can happen is that I'll lose a couple thousand per year in property taxes for 15-20 years (I'm hoping they won't dare to raise them unless the population starts growing). The best is that the city recovers and I'll be in a position to improve the empty land and sell. I'm guessing the true expected value is going to be somewhere in the middle.

What do you all think? I've put tons of work into this, but I think I can still be dissuaded if enough experienced investors tell me that I'm utterly off-base. I did expect to make lots of mistakes on my first major effort.

@Scott K., I'll let you know our dates as soon as we've made travel arrangements. I think we're going to cement them tonight.

And yes - out of the thousands I've gone over, I've written down hundreds to make sure that some of them make it to auction, and I aim to win only a small handful of those (or more, if the auction goes well).