All Forum Posts by: Mohammed Rahman

Hey @Pam Wils - it's completely normal to feel anxious with your first investment! A lot of questions that may be racing through your head such as: what if the tenant stops paying? what if there's an issue with the house? etc. 

In my short experience, you can never factor for 100% of all risks. You do the best you can with what you have available to you: deal calculators (BP has one, there are other sites too), finding a reliable agent to checkout the house/neighborhood etc. I agree with @Nathan Gesner that it's definitely not enough to just buy a property because it's already got tenants in it. 

If I'm in your shoes, and you're looking to spend your saved up money, I would pause for a moment and ask why you're wanting to get into REI and start from there. I've learnt people often will make a decision based on FOMO and won't bother with properly running the numbers on a property to see if it makes sense for their investment thesis (what might be a good deal for you, can also be a bad deal for someone else, etc.)

A good starting place are the books available by BiggerPockets authors re: renting, first time landlord, etc. 

Hey @Alvin Garcia - congrats on making the decision to invest in real estate, looks like you're getting closer to the finish line! 

You're actually the first investor that has brought up the % of renters in the area, I had never thought about that before but will definitely consider it next time I buy. My focus is on things such as job growth and population stability. 

If I'm in your shoes, I would take a quick look at the available units for rent via zillow to get a good idea of what the rental supply/demand is like. If there are a lot of units for rent, then that's a sign that you'll have to factor in a longer vacancy period before filling your property. Hope this helps! 

Hey @Will Bert - I was also going to recommend Madison Specs as the founder is pretty active online on YouTube. If you don't have any luck with them, my best recommendation would be to ask your real estate CPA who they would recommend. Most of the time CPAs don't specialize in cost segregation, but work with other firms who do. My $0.02. 

Hey @Joshua Taffe - 8% closing costs does seem pretty steep. In my experience closing costs are roughly 2-4%; unless your bank has any reason for the higher closing costs that they've disclosed to you? Fees, processing, etc. 

You should also pushback to your bank and encourage them to lower closing costs amount, banks are able to do that. The volume of refinance loans in the market has dropped significantly since last year and banks are more willing to have a discussion about making concessions if needed to get a deal done. 

Hey @Shane S., take a deep breath and realize that this is a solvable problem. I agree with some of the others in this thread in that the situation never should have gotten to this stage, but you already knew that. 

I have a golden rule that I've learnt from difficult tenants: People will treat you the way you train them to treat you. Your current tenant was trained to take advantage of you by how you compromised repeatedly on situations that you didn't have to. You don't sound like a bad landlord that neglects his tenants at all, so why should you suffer?

Before moving any further, I would consult with a tenant/eviction attorney in NYC. There are plenty of them and some will work for a flat fee. Will this add on to the expenses you already have? Yes. 

But removing and having this existing tenant out of your life is going to be more valuable and cheaper than continuing to let her occupy your headspace (and physical real estate) for this long. 

@Katherin Rivera - sure thing! 

Hey @Sanderson Mittnacht - you could try swinging by the open houses of the you're interested in. Sometimes the seller is there, accompanied by the agent (it happens). 

Typically, if a homeowner wants to use an agent instead of going the FSBO (for sale by owner) route then it means they don't want to interact or speak with any buyers regardless of the offer being made. 

I've been on both ends, and any homeowner that has attempted to sell via FSBO knows the headache of managing random calls through the day as well as vetting potential buyers (but hey, you save on commission fees).

Hey @Katherin Rivera, how big is your portfolio? If it's anything similar like mine (small), then I recommend https://paltielcpa.nyc/

I've only gone to him starting this year, but I like how responsive he is via phone/text to my random questions with my properties. 

Hey @Leonardo Trought! From your post history it seems like you're actively sourcing deals for your wholesaling business, nice! 

I recommend just calling different title companies, or you can search the forums on BP. Check out TitleVest, that's based in NYC: https://www.titlevest.com/

Hey @Kimora Link - if they're looking to own their first property to invest/house-hack or own as a primary home, give me a shout and DM me! 

I know how daunting the home buying process can be for buyers in this market with low inventory, so it helps to be paired with a realtor who does this full time (NYC has a lot of part-timers that do this as a side hustle). 

Look forward to hearing back and happy to work out a referral program with your company as well.