All Forum Posts by: Harriet Baldwin

We're property owners and managers in Elmira and know folks in Broome County (Binghamton). Sounds like Elmira could fit your criteria. 

Not sure there's a huge difference place-to-place for ability to find contractors. 

There are differences in local rental regulations (registration, etc) place-to-place - for example, Elmira requires rentals be registered and inspected, but does not require CofOs except for new builds or particularly extensive renovations

Here's a fun article about one family that's working on a major historic reno in Elmira - I've heard we have the largest concentration of Victorian homes in the region! https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/local/2023/09/05/insp...

Based in Elmira for 12 years now, let me know if you're headed our way, happy to be a tourguide! We manage our own portfolio plus the properties of outside owners.

Some folks prefer to be onsite/hands-on investors, others do 100% remote. Looks like you're aiming for a bit of a hybrid approach, which can make a lot of sense.

Elmira in a nutshell - low property values, high rent yields, maintenance costs relatively high % but low total $. Your biggest choice will be between A neighborhoods higher $ acquisition/ lower turnover vs. C type property lower $ acquisition/ higher turnover & maintenance. Either can be profitable.  Elmira has relatively flexible zoning (ask me if you want a link to a new nationwide screen for zoning friendliness). Code is workable and has some...moments - just like most other jurisdictions!

Reach out if you want more details.

Quote from @Diane Straka:

Hello everyone - I came across this thread re: Elmira NY area.  I'm from the Buffalo NY area and a family member will be relocating to Elmira.  We were thinking about partnering on a 2 unit with the idea to convert into rental as she may only be there for a few years.  I've done some research on the general area and some pricing really is low.  Does anyone have any knowledge on how prices have changed over the past several years?  Has it been steady? Just afraid of a potential drop in the next couple of years given the current market. 
Any recommended areas for a younger couple with dogs (need to walk them daily)?
Any other tips not already discussed in this thread? 
How are your properties noted here going?
Thank you.

Diane, I think the house hack approach could be great in the Elmira area as long as you choose a location that your family member is happy with. Run the numbers at least 3 ways and compare - do them for a 2 unit BRRRR, a single family buy/use/sell in a couple years, or a single family buy/use/BRRRR. Asset values in Elmira are low relative to rents. Imo single families are easier for an absentee landlord to manage than multi-units are.

Asset values in Elmira have gone up over the last few  years but not nearly as much as most areas in the US. In the last real estate crash values here were flat. I can't predict the future but if I were guessing I'd say there's less downside risk to asset values in Elmira than in most of the US. Investing here for capital appreciation is not something most investors count on - history has been little downside risk, but this is combined with modest value increases at times when other markest are booming. I worked on Wall Street for 15 years, if you want links to the raw data lmk.

Full disclosure: I am a local real estate investor with 150+ units, we've been in Elmira over a decade and this year launched Courage Property Management LLC that manages properties for other owners.

Quote from @Rebecca Devlin:

@Harriet Baldwin would you be interested in giving some advise/ guidance to a newbie to the area?

 Yes Rebecca, I sent you a direct message :) Better delayed than never lol!

Hey Chris, we are investors and property managers in Elmira and live in the area as well. I'll send you a direct message :)

Quote from @Pravit Jarriyapurttipong:

HI Amos,

How is rental business in Elmira? I see so many houses are low price with very cap rate. I just wonder why don't renter just buy it.

For example this house 39k fully rented for 1050/month if renter buy with FHA down payment is only 1400 and mortgage is only $158/month. Why don't they buy?

What do I have to be careful when I buy rental property there?

Pravit - good to see you here on Bigger Pockets! What Amos said lol. Most renters lack credit and/or steady income history and/or down payment monies.

Everyone - TLDR let me know if you want info for a 3/29/2022 4pm EDT webinar on no-score mortgages that I'm helping to publicize, it could help your renters buy you out!
This is not sponsored, I am not a mortgage professional (I am a real estate investor and property manager). I've been talking to the folks at Alternatives CU, they got permission to serve Chemung County in the last couple of years. They are a CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) which basically means they get special Federal funding in return for meeting community support/development goals. They are launching a new mortgage product HOPE (Home Ownership to Promote Equality). The big hook is that there is NO credit score requirement. I assume that means pricing is not risk-based, meaning anyone would pay the same rate for the loan as long as they qualify. I will post any interesting details here after the webinar, and if you'd like to attend the webinar let me know and I'll message you the log in info.

Second the suggestions for finding a local manager to be able to help since you are out of town. One thing not yet mentioned - NY has mostly old-fashioned onsite meter readings (not remote), typically every second month. If a unit is vacant and then occupied, the algorithm may assume a month 2 actual read that is lower than the month 1 estimated read shows that the meter has "round tripped" (like a car going to 1 mile on the odometer after 99,999) - although that would be more like $3,000 than $1,000 higher ime. A call to the utility usually clears it up (it's happened to us a few times).

@Daniel Whiddon and @Jeff Jansen, if you haven't already discovered Under One Roof and Jaime Caine at Boylan Code, check them out.  Jaime is an ace landlord/tenant attorney and now official lobbyist, and is doing daily landlord/tenant law updates (old ones posted on the Boylan Code FB page, newer ones are on zoom).  If you reach out (easy to find on FB), you can access the live zoom calls for Q&A, plus get a link to a page with lots of *free* landlord resources including updated COVID compliant eviction paperwork and much much more.

We have a batch of properties that we took over with tenants late last year, and a number of those properties came with bugs and are on recurring treatment schedules with Orkin.  At least here in Upstate NY, Orkin as of Friday is doing interiors only on request (as in, happy to do them but only if customer says "please do the interior").

I texted each tenant and explained they could say "yes" or "no" to interior treatment at this time - so far all who have replied have said "yes".  If anyone says "no" I plan to reiterate that future pest activity will be their responsibility to control.

Any thoughts or strategies to share?

Congrats! FYI if you're not already going, @Christopher Stanis runs a REIA in Binghampton and there is a monthly landlord association meeting in Elmira

https://www.facebook.com/CCNYLA/