All Forum Posts by: Jack Browning

So the recent round of stimulus/COVID legislation that passed has $25B in rent subsidies for renters in arrears due to Covid. The Treasury department has put out pages full of information about the qualifying requirements. All well and good, thank you Uncle Sam. But...

WHERE ON EARTH DO WE APPLY FOR THIS!!???

I’m losing my mind trying to find any place where one might actually request these funds. Has anyone been able to successfully put in an application? My property is in Westchester county New York. Both the state and county government websites have ZIP about this.

Praying this isn’t one of those things that comes and goes in 3 days and I never even knew where to go. 

Anyone with any info whatsoever? Has your local government put anything out?

Did this in New Rochelle for a couple of years. Have moved since, but strongly encourage you take a look there. Billions of $ of investment and development happening in the downtown core. Commuting is perfect - Metro-North into Grand Central, Amtrak up or down to Boston/DC, 25 mins to LGA, quick drive and you are on your way upstate. On the Long Island sound with beaches!

I bought a 4-plex, lived in the 1 bedroom and rented out the 3 other 3-bedroom units. FHA loan with 3.5% down and I was cash flow positive when I moved in. ONLY downside - there are rarely 4-units on the market. Once you get one, you hold onto it. I'm definitely never giving mine up!

You could do Mt. Vernon or Yonkers but New Ro has a much higher quality of life and a lot more upside in my opinion. Good luck!

I've been in New Rochelle for over a year now. Bought a 4-plex and owner-occupy, purchased with an FHA loan. Property is cash-flow positive with me in it, and I'm 35 minutes to midtown.

Not glamorous, but having no rent/mortgage payment out of pocket feels like a winning a lottery ticket every month in the NYC area.  Frankly Yonkers and Mt. Vernon may still be a bit dicey in some parts, but New Rochelle has a massive amount of investment going on right now and has good transit 'bones'. Right on 95, Metro-North & Amtrak. Easy commute to the city and 25 minutes to LGA. Up and coming downtown area and a number of developments going up. 

Hopefully things stay up in the air long enough to get built out and occupied before the next downturn, but I'll be happy owning here for the next 5-10 years with confidence. 

Hello All,

Last fall I took the plunge and purchased a 4-unit Multifamily in New Rochelle, NY. I was able to get a very competitive price from the seller, who had been promoted at work, and no longer had time to manage the property. The home was purchased with an FHA loan, so I put down 3.5% and acquired the home for $725k. After the appraisal, I found that the home was over 1,000 square feet larger than what the county records listed it as, so on a price per square foot basis, it was significantly undervalued.

It is has 3, 3 bedroom units I rent out, and a 1 bedroom that I live in. The gross income should I rent out my unit would be about $9k per month. But as it stands, I'm cash flow positive while living in it!

My question to the community - I want to refinance into a conventional Loan ASAP vs. making ongoing Mortgage Insurance payments. There are a number of multi-family properties that have listed/sold nearby that are $100-150k higher than my purchase price. These are smaller properties, with less income. 

Do I stand a chance of re-appraising significantly higher simply on comparables? I've done cosmetic upgrades, but nothing significant in terms of renovations. Curious what my chances are of appraising $150k higher just due to recent sales in my area, without altering the structure.

Any insight or advice welcome!

@Account Closed Good question, it's the primary reason I bought a quad. None of the duplexes/triplexes would have worked on the numbers on a standalone basis. I bought it on actuals showing it would cash flow once I'm out and placed under property management at 10%. Certainly not by a large amount, but positive. I think the long-term redevelopment plan (admittedly speculative) for New Rochelle and the demand for families needing 3 bedrooms as people get squeezed out of the boroughs (less speculative) should allow for decent appreciation. I'll look to add parking in the backyard as this was the one big minus of the property.

The building is on the south side of the city around the corner from the City Marina, near the corner of Franklin Ave and Pelham Rd. About a 12 minute walk to the train station. Maybe a 6 minute walk to the New Roc entertainment complex and Stop & Shop. For now I'm getting paid to live there and will use the free cash from my job to pay down the PMI (bought with FHA loan at 3.5% down) and do light cosmetic touch ups to flooring/kitchens/baths over the next two years, then look to refi out and move along. Hopefully rinse and repeat.

Not sure I will stay in the area forever, but will be happy to have a performing Westchester asset over the long term. Could even look to tear down and put up a 8-10 unit apartment building on the footprint, but that would be 10+ years from now.

Thought I would weigh in as I recently bought a quad in New Rochelle that I am owner-occupying to 'house hack'. Opportunity to introduce better tenant management and add some value to the property. Intend to own this for the very long term, but income from the 3 other units are presently covering PITI, owner utilities and capex/maintenance reserves.

This hit the MLS on a Sunday and I put in an offer at the seller's ask that Wednesday after attending the open house. I think the trick is to set up alerts on all the sites, evaluate every multi-family that comes on the market or has sold to know when value pops up. The previous owner was looking to break-even on his investment and was done playing landlord out of state. Probably could have haggled a bit, but controlling the asset beat waiting another year in my opinion. I'm sure there will be many surprises along the way, but I think this has enough built-in margin of safety that I can pull it off.

Would love to network with others in New Rochelle as I will have a good amount of work I will need to put into this place in the coming years. Feel free to contact me!

Hello All!

I am beginning my first week as an owner-occupier/landlord in a 4-unit building in New Rochelle, NY. Have been dealing with all the nay-sayers, but really believe this has potential to work well for me. At the least, no more rent to be paid!

Was looking to try and network with any other Landlords in Lower Westchester who might be able to share resources or refer team-members. I'm fortunate that a number of the tenants work in specialty trades and labor, so I'm developing my own in-house team.

Please feel free to introduce yourself or send any recommendations my way. I'm very anxious to speak to some veterans that might be on Bigger Pockets.

Thanks!

Hello!

Looking for some insight on this unique situation - I tried to search for answers online and completely struck out. There are tons of responses for what to do when the appraisal comes back with a LOWER square footage figure vs. the advertised MLS listing, but what about the opposite case?

My investing partner recently obtained an appraisal for a property, and compared to the original listing, the square footage is significantly HIGHER. The house is 3 stories with a recently half-finished basement. My assumption is the city assessment stating it was '2.5 stories' simply took the building footprint and multiplied by 2.5. This didn't account for an accurate reading of the "half story" on the third floor, or a recently renovated half basement. The difference between the appraisal and the listing is 1,200 additional sq ft.

The house is priced at a multiple that makes sense for the original square footage listed given the area, but applying that same multiple (or even a decent bit lower) to the appraiser's higher estimated size would get a significantly higher value.

Could a buyer be sitting on a windfall that the seller missed? Or would this for some reason not affect the value meaningfully?

Any insight is welcome.