All Forum Posts by: Jake Lipowski

Hey EJ, fellow Buffalo investor here and I think it’s a great market. I think Nathan’s point about getting an independent appraisal is a great way to show your uncle and father what the value is in it’s current condition. You also mention he would seller finance it to you though. If thats an option, make him an offer close to what he wants but set the terms you want. If you can get in woth zero down and a long holding period, that can allow you to still cashflow, I would consider doing it still even if you pay a little over market value. You can always refi down the road and if youre cash flowing, youre good. Best of luck!

Hey everyone, I was listening to the recent podcast episode with Pace Morby on creative financing and he mentioned something I had never heard of before. It was about getting an insurance policy to protect you in case the bank calls a loan from the "due on sale" clause. I have a couple properties in my personal name that I want to transfer into an LLC that I am in the process of setting up. I know that I can quit claim the deed into my LLC pretty easily but worry that if I do, the bank will call the loan due since the mortgage is in my personal name. Has anyone had experience with this before or knows that this is possible? Does it work the same as if it was done from one seller to another and do these types of insurance policies cover the above scenario? I know the policy itself would be an added expense but Pace mentioned the premium is usually about 1% of the loan value. For the peace of mind, that's a cost I'm willing to pay. Anymore insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hey Brian, congratulations on the new property! Towne Housing Real Estate is who I go with and they are great. They are actually expanding into Rochester also so might be worth looking to offload your other properties to them as well. I’m out of town currently and have had a great experience with them. 

Hey Ryan, South Buffalo a great neighborhood to invest in and is definitely in the path of progress right now. The supply is pretty tight right now especially in that area but @Brandon Kmiotek is a great agent that knows the area well and Towne Housing is a great management company to get in touch with also. Best of luck!

Hey Matthew, are you looking within the city limits of Buffalo? There always seems to be a pretty good amount of duplexes on the market at any given time within the city (although there definitely seems to be a short supply at the current moment). I wouldn't necessarily go through the hassle of trying to get off market deals yet with a traditional house hack, given that most off market deals are ones that sellers either want to close quick, all cash, etc. The best benefit of house hacking in my opinion is being able to take advantage of traditional bank financing with 3.5%-5% down payments for a primary residence. You can pay a retail price because your ROI is still going to be high given your low down payment. Plus the property taxes within the city almost makes any house hack with that low of a down payment a good deal and your mortgage is almost guaranteed to be covered by the other unit. It might be more beneficial to wait until the spring when more stuff comes to market, even though I know the feeling of thinking you're missing out with every day that passes. Hope that helps!

Hey Ben, I’m certainly no expert but I have been able to buy 2 properties with owner financing and it has went very smoothly both times. I think it’s all in how you would like the terms to be. If you amortize over a longer time like 15 to 30 years you’ll be getting smaller payments but more interest in those payments. That also makes it easier for the buyer in most cases as they’ll have lower payments to you. It also depends on how long you’re willing to wait to call it due with a balloon payment. If you want the monthly cash flow for a while you might not care about calling it due in a year or 2. The 2 I’ve done have been on 10 year loans, with 7 & 8% interest rates and due in 18 months and the other was 2 years. I was able to put less than a typical 20% down that a bank might require so I was fine paying those higher interest rates. Hope that helps! 

Did you have this property on the market before? I feel like the address sounds familiar

Hey there, for property management I would definitely recommend Towne Housing Real Estate. They are who I use and they are great. I dont have personal experience with any others but have bought properties that were managed by other management companies and they were not in good shape. Too be fair though, it could have been due to the reluctance of the owner to do the necessary work. Towne Housing can be a little expensive on the work they do but they do good work and almost everything is in-house. You also can use outside contractors for work as well. They are full service too and I have had a good experience so far. They charge 10% of rent and then a $25/per unit start up fee. Leasing fees are 1 month of rent. 

I have worked with Vinny Ciffa over at Metro Roberts of WNY as my agent in the past and he was great. He recently put me in contact with @Brandon Kmiotek on his team though and he has been great and is on Bigger Pockets and an investor himself. 

I don't really have any recommendations for contractors or mortgage brokers but Lake Shore Savings bank will do investment property loans to out of state investors with 25% down or 75% LTV for a cash out refi which is what I'm currently doing. Their rate is 4.75% fixed on a 25 year loan

Just curious as to why you are looking at the Buffalo market? What attracted you to it? It seems like Buffalo goes under the radar on a lot of posts, etc. when it comes to good RE markets for investors

Hey everyone, this is my first post on here. Just looking to confirm my fears that Trump's executive order today did in fact ban evictions across the country through the end of the year? is this what everyone else is hearing too?

the main reason I'm so concerned is I'm currently under contract on a property in New York. The state eviction moratorium is set to lift August 20th and one of the tenants was already in the eviction process pre-covid. The other is starting to get behind and my plan was to evict both once the moratorium lifted and do a full rehab since it's in rough shape. If this moratorium is through the end of the year I might just walk away and cut my loss on the escrow.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Buffalo.

Purchase price: $85,000
Cash invested: $5,000

2 Family property that I am currently house hacking. Rent in the upper unit is way below market at $625 but I have really good inherited tenants that I already raised the rent on once. Mortgage is $710 including taxes, insurance, and PMI.