All Forum Posts by: Jennifer S.

Hi all, I haven't properly introduced myself, I'm newish to BP. I already started posting without an intro, how impolite!!

I'm looking to add a buy and hold multi family property within a one hour drive of Boston so I can check up on it when I'm visiting home, which tends to be 2-3 times per year. My family could also drive by from time to time. Of course I'd use a property manager but I like the idea of being able to get to the property without jumping on another plane. So Providence is coming up on my radar for a number of reasons.

If I let go of that stipulation, then I will just go turnkey in some of the midwest/southern markets being discussed on BP.

In the past I've done a strategy of buying in fringe areas that then catch up with their neighbors. I imagine this happens slower outside of the very biggest cities, but don't want to rule it out in Providence.

I'll be attending the RIREIG next week, barring poor weather as I'll be coming down from the South Shore, MA. 

If I progress in Providence, I'll need the whole team (property manager, attorney, accountant). 

However I haven't found any particularly cash flowing stock yet. Will be interesting to discuss the current market with anyone who attends the meeting. I know it's right before Christmas, but I'll be back again in mid Jan.

I'm learning about the out of state tax issue and have seen prior posts about the unique factors of RI landlording. But don't want to deep dive on research if there's no stock anyways. I recognise that it's winter so that's likely suppressing inventory a bit.

Thanks and look forward to meeting you!

@Jason King, see my reply, are you still following this topic? Have you made any progress? Many thanks

@Bobby Thompson, came across this old thread while searching for Rhode Island. I have been trying to develop something that combines different data like household income, median home price, school rank, etc. I posted something about this at https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/564/topics/51...

That lens was more focused on suburban SF but I'm also interested in developing something for MF. For SF the school quality had seemed more important to me at first but other posters said the market is so hot that anything decent is selling.

Since I posted I found some other free data sites I'll be investigating over time (I also want to avoid analysis paralysis):

http://databrowser.mapc.org/

This has all kinds of stuff on population projects by age range (eg 20-34), income, crime. I love data and that thing is overwhelming me.

http://www.massbuilds.com/developments/

Shows upcoming development projects in Mass towns. The data export is hard to deal with at first glance.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/best-school-district...

I haven't found a school data set I can easily export into Excel. This was the closest

Not sure if you're on BP anymore, but maybe other data geeks might see this

@Dorene Mangels-Bacalhau here they are. Apologies, I didn't take all these and would have removed the cosmetics from the bedroom bureau! This all may not be everyone's taste but we felt it was in harmony with the location. These were bought more than 5 years ago so we might do things slightly differently 

now. Thanks for the tip re HGTV hi/low.

Thanks! I'll post photos when am back at the laptop 

@Michaela G., @Robert Leonard, I've been asking so many questions on BP so finally thought I'd try to add some info when I came across this post. In our renovations we've mixed antiques with modern furniture to try to create an expensive look for less. 

When we go antique shopping we avoid any "cool" area where everything is marked up and find house clearance specialists in random areas who tend to misprice their stock.

For our investment property we have a marble topped chest of drawers that looks like it might cost $500 and instead cost us $100. For our primary residence we have a sideboard that is exquisite, with solid wood and glass panelling that was similar pricing. 

In London everyone has been chasing mid century modern so Edwardian pieces get dumped even if they can look great if combined with modern pieces for an eclectic look. I agree, all Edwardian can look dark and dreary like Miss Haversham's house. I like mid century modern too but it's starting to get overplayed. 

In the investment property we bought a massive modern original piece of art from a local artist for around $200 and it complements the antiques.

I like to read interior design magazines then replicate the look for as cheaply as I can while maintaining some quality. 

In the bathroom we combined simple, inexpensive white tiles with a few more expensive subway tiles. In the kitchen we held onto a quite old but solid stainless steel countertop and added white glossy cabinets that looked higher end (these seem more popular over here than the US for some reason)

@Michaela G. you've found a way to get to a great wealth level while doing what you love at your own pace. That is wonderful. More than one way to skin a cat. If scaling up works for other people that's cool too, but we won't know if they've taken on too much risk until after the next recession occurs. 

I'd love to do site assembly and create a community of artists and do something that creates a vibrant unusual community. Even in the "worst" parts of town where I live (London), land prices are exorbitant so need to look to other places. E.g. If it weren't for Brexit, I'd be interested in places like Folkestone on the UK coast where there is an emerging artist community. But right now I want to get more exposure in the US to balance my UK exposure.

Question, how did you sense that Atlanta had enough artists to create your (modest) critical mass? I guess any big city will have artists. Why Atlanta and not Houston, Dallas, Miami, Chicago etc I guess is what I'm asking. How did you first discover your Atlanta niche?

BTW like your other posts about the Belt Line, and happy for Atlanta that it is progressing. 

Hi @Cheng Bin Zhang, how did your project work out? I'm researching zoning in various Boston/RI markets and came across this post. Hope it went well!

@Alex Cornwell, thanks that's quite helpful. Yes for me it would just be upside optionality, I don't like to take full on bets (maybe this is why I'm not richer ha ha). I love MV so the ferry is further upside. I'll try to attend the next relevant RE meet up group if I'm in town.