All Forum Posts by: Connor Smith

@Corey Threet  I just bought my first owner occupied duplex. My tip would be to start saving money in the First Home Club program for a down payment. It's free money out there and really helps out with the down payment if you qualify.

http://www.fhlbny.com/community/housing-programs/f...

For everyone that owns property in the City of Buffalo, do you find it necessary to have flood insurance? I know that south of the city and surrounding areas there tends to be more flooding issues but in the downtown area it seems a little unnecessary.  I know that even after the huge winter storm this year I did not have any water in my basement. Anyone have any thoughts?

@THIYAGHU MUTHUSWAMY  My dad owns an large old farm house that is split into a couple units and runs on oil heat. The big problem is that the cost to heat with oil is crazy expensive. It has been up to $800/month just for the ground floor unit in this house and the tenant has has trouble paying this in the past. Just a tip about how costly oil heat is. I would avoid it

@Taylor Grabus I just bought my first duplex with the SONYMA Conventional Plus Program. It's very similar to the FHA loan. You put down 5% down payment but the PMI goes away after you reach 80% LTV. I did a search and looks like MA has a very similar program. It sounds like they don't even require PMI.

"MassHousing Mortgage with No MI: Fixed rate 30-year mortages with up to 97% financing for single-family homes or condos, up to 95% financing for 2-, 3-, and 4-family homes, and no mortgage insurance requirement. Borrowers can be first-time homebuyers or non-first-time homebuyers."

http://www.massresources.org/masshousing-loans.htm...

If you have $50k to invest you would probably be better off using that as a down payment on a higher quality property. Tying all your money up in a house that is in a really bad area sounds like a huge headache. Even a good PM won't be able to offset all of the problems you are going to have to deal with if the area is that bad.

Just signed the contract on my first deal. Got a duplex in an A neighborhood for almost no money down. Going to owner occupy one half of the duplex next year, will not pay any rent and will still cashflow on top of that after expenses. Definitely would have made some mistakes if I didn't have the ability to search the forums for any questions that came up.

Will post the details in success stories within the next couple weeks!

Really inspirational and very impressive.

@Julie Greene  Good to know! Thanks for the information

Thanks for the insight everyone!

When buying a house for a price that is higher than the current assessed tax value would the city always raise the taxes up to match the new purchase price? I was wondering if this varies based on where you are buying the house?  The house I am looking at is in Buffalo, NY.