All Forum Posts by: Daniel Maciag

@John Hickey Would you get legal 2 Family for 550k in hood, or big small family for 380k and convert it 2/3 fam over 1 year?

I checked those and I literally see nothing. This is strange because it shows so many properties sold a year ago but this year, close to nothing. I have no idea what is going on.

Is it just me or is their no inventory?

I'm looking at Zillow in some new York City areas of my choice and there is absolutely nothing for sale for a price even 20% over the zestimate. Absolutely nothing. I've been looking for six plus months and zero findings. Even on MLS there is nothing. I see some houses sold but I never saw them on sale on Zillow or mls. Could I be missing something or is there a hidden map of them where I can buy?

@John Hickey are you primarily in high cap or high appreciation areas, or mix of both?

Supposed one has, 100k saved up. Wouldn't it make sense to buy in undervalued areas close to big money cities like SF, NYC?

The breakdown would be: 10% down payment on a 350k MF house, ofc not in SF, and maybe 20k in gold for insurance. You still have like 45k in cash and are protected against downside.

Thanks all for the tips. I dont mind people doing drugs on my block as long as they don't shoot me. The bullets is what worries me, not skin color.

I am thinking about buying a 3 Unit MF house within 1 hour of train/bus commute to NYC for about 300-400k. The issue is, this is in the hood. I plan on being in and out within 2 years of renovation and renting out everything, and staying in basement before I find another deal in a safe area.

I figured, the market cant go lower in this area as it's already low, and even if it goes lower, the downside is dwarfed by the long term potential upside due to spacing issues in the city.

The question is, during these two years, what do I bring with me to work/home? Do I carry a pocket knife (not pun) or attend a Martial Arts class (pun)? The safety rating on trulia is about 45-50% for this area, so it's not like im buying in detroit or hunts point where you can't walk down the street. I don't plan on returning home late, but if I do, I'd be sure to drive out the garage through back door. 

If anyone has experiences doing this, any feedback will be good. I can run fast but I'm not willing to take a bullet. I'm eastern european (slav) and am medium height and fairly athletic, but not bodybuilder and definitely not bulletproof.

 I hear you on all of this. My question remains. Can I take out a mortgage on foreclosure properties?  I don't have 300-400k laying around. A mortgage is an absolute must. I can TLC, I can evict. I just don't want to buy a 200k over market price property when shortsales/foreclosures are literally half the price. I don't mind even paying market value for these foreclosures/ short sales but they MUST be mortgaged. Do you know if they can? If not, then I'm running in circles. NYC is an absolute must for me and I am not interested in anything else at the moment. Thank you for your input. 

Is a mortgage on a foreclosure or short sale in NYC doable? I thought that this process has high uncertainty (if it's even allowed), and can take up to a year to get approved. I have no idea what to do here or who to ask.

Consider the following scenario, presented by a question.

Buyer 1 and Buyer 2 live in a low supply high demand multi family housing area. There are only 2 MF houses in this area. MF1 is priced at 1m and MF2 is priced also at 1m, except MF1 is a slightly better looking house.

Buyer 1 figures that he can afford MF1 without going over 30% of his income as to use the remaining 70% for savings in case something goes wrong. He has a relatively stable job and has a good chance of paying off the loan in 30 years. Buyer 1 makes the offer for MF1 of 1 million. Buyer 2 comes in and has zero sense of the state of the economy, works at a highly leveraged junk start up that is about to go lehman. Buyer 2 insists on throwing 45% of his income into a monthly ARM floating rate mortgage in 2016 and offers 1.2M. Buyer 1 receives this information and is asked if he is willing to offer more and realizes that it will cause high default chances if something goes even slightly wrong, and rationally says no.

The other seller in the area raises price of MF2 based on the fact that MF1 sold for 20% over asking price. MF2 is now on sale for 1.2M. Buyer 1 cannot buy MF2 and is upset. Buyer 1 goes about his payments and see's his mortgage rising since he wasn't aware that the FED is raising rates for the next 3+ years. He see's his house price drop, mortgage rise, loses his job and defaults on the loan. MF2 is still the only house on the market as most lenders won't let you finance a foreclosed MF1.

What does buyer 1 do to have a roof of his/her head?