All Forum Posts by: Domion Pontrelli

@Domion Pontrelli I bought two properties in Newburgh last year and every day I am looking to buy more. I owe this all to my friend @Nadene Grey who bought several about five years ago and just another last year. We have homes across the street from each other and do not plan on going anywhere. Mind you, we both worked in some of NYC's prestigious neighborhoods and Newburgh is a breath of fresh air for us. We run though the city when the weather permits; we never feel unsafe. Sure, there are shady parts but no more than one would find in pockets of Manhattan. Everyone makes eye contact and says hello. Despite much of the bad rap that Newburgh has been given in previous decades, never have I had an encounter that has made me prefer Soho or the god forsaken Meatpacking District and the $25 martini's they offer. 

Investors, home buyers, transplants and alike do not just look at the crime and drugs; which are on a fierce trajectory of decline but the rising potential and rehabilitation in addition to the charm and history that Newburgh offers. 

There is a built in network and support of homeowners, agents and investors @John Hickey

@John Hickey, thanks for highlighting  this thread for me. @Domion Pontrelli, you pose an interesting question!

Without getting too heavy into the history, Newburgh is a very interesting case, and one that deserves special consideration beyond the ticker tape of contemporary news stories. The city was designed to fail in a very particular way that promoted crime, slumlording, dependence on social housing subsidies, and the poverty industry. Many current reports about crime and danger in Newburgh are thinly veiled racial slurs, and the entire history of Urban Renewal (when the main section of downtown Newburgh was raised to the ground in the 60s) was designed to 'reinvigorate' the areas of town where people of color lived. There is a good history-in-review here: http://newburghrestoration.com/blog/2018/01/17/los...
A huge community lost its housing, economic base, and sense of place, and desperation, crime, corruption, and insular thinking certainly filled in the gaps that were opened wide. 

I live in downtown Newburgh and there isn't a street I won't walk down. I'm a real estate agent focused exclusively on the City of Newburgh, and my advice to clients buying in the city: don't join a gang, and if you're buying drugs, pay your dealer. But I figure this is sound advice in most situations. 

My feeling about living in the city is that crime certainly does happen, usually out of economic necessity and/or a real addiction, mostly among people who know each other. In a very few tragic cases, a person is in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, 99.9% of crime is not random; I've never heard of anyone getting randomly mugged in Newburgh, for example. I feel like you'd just see them again the next day down the block! It's a small town at the end of the day, and there are LOTS of quality eyes on the street holding down the block. 
The police force has good leadership and picks their battles; they don't bother with low-violence offenders like the corner weed dealer and don't bother slapping misdemeanors on people drinking or smoking on their porch on a Sunday afternoon, but they do go after violent gangs and groups aggressively and have made progress over the last couple of years. I'm a big fan of urban life in Newburgh for myself and my family. Let me know when you're up and I'll be happy to grab a coffee! 

How far north are you willing to go? Kingston is trying hard to revitalize, Catskill has great returns on c grade properties, liberty has really great rental returns and climbing with the employment jump from the Monticello casino. Don't bank on that lasting though. If you are into vacation rentals instead, with a bit more risk and much higher returns the Catskills are littered with cheap houses for rehab that can bring 25k+ a year in income. All depends on your goals and willingness to head a touch further north.