All Forum Posts by: Joseph Guzzardi Jr

Hello my names Abdul Zaman, I’m a Civil Engineer that works in NYC (within the 5 boroughs) I am soon to move out of my families house and to get my own place with my wife (soon to be).. I am aware nyc is a very tough and expensive market to get into which is why my mind is pretty set on moving to New Jersey, somewhere close to nyc so I can travel (as long as it’s 1hr) away from Staten Island or Manhattan or Bronx from the soon to be house/investment. I have been researching up on multi family-house hacking, multifamily-new construction and or buying land or an investment and live in an apartment (via rent). I personally want to invest in real estate and gain enough properties that I can quit my w2 career and focus on family, life and passive income. I hope someone can advice me on how to start and where to start, I believe I make a decent income (six figure, which maybe doesn’t mean much these days), have above 700 credit score and don’t have any debt and can gather up to 70-90k in down payment. Which is the best route to take? Knowing that it’ll soon be just me (as the only income in the household) and my wife a young couple looking to build generational wealth. I hope someone can guide me, im aware in the first few years maybe we’ll have to sacrifice alittle on the living situation which we don’t mind at all as long as it’s a great investment in the long run and can lead to more.

Thank you so much,

I’m struggling to wrap my head around the reality of negative cash flow. I’ve been exploring multi-family properties for house hacking in both the Philadelphia and Boston areas for several months, focusing on the cheaper areas around the cities rather than in the cities themselves, as housing costs are incredibly high. Despite this, every analysis I’ve done shows not only negative cash flow while living in the property (which I expected) but also significant negative cash flow even after moving out and renting all the units.

While I’m living there, my housing costs would be higher than they are now because I currently rent very cheaply with three roommates. Having them join me in the house hack isn’t an option, as I can’t afford a place with enough bedrooms in a single unit in the areas I want to live. So, it would just be my partner and me, which limits our options in the neighborhoods we’re comfortable with. I’m also at a life stage, where I’d prefer to just live with my partner and not rent out individual rooms in my unit.

When I move out, the rental income would sometimes just barely cover the mortgage and taxes (usually not even insurance). However, this is what many real estate books call “phantom cash flow,” which is considered a red flag. After moving out, I’d still be out of pocket $750 to $1,500 a month to cover vacancy, capital expenditures, maintenance, and property management. And on top of that, I’d be paying rent or a mortgage somewhere else.

I understand real estate is a long-term investment and that appreciation and equity plays a role, but losing money month after month, even post-move-out, is hard to justify. One of the main challenges is that I can only afford to put 5% down, which would leave me tied to this property’s expenses for the foreseeable future, making it harder to pursue other investments.

All of this said, I’m really struggling to stay positive about investing right now. It just doesn’t seem viable unless I wait a year or two to save more for a larger down payment. Any advice or insight would be appreciated, with the focus on the current situation (I’m not looking to move somewhere else). Thanks!

Shortly after acquiring this 7-unit property, I ran into one of the tenant's who asked if I could replace her showerhead. She's been at the property for 15+ years and said it's never been replaced, so I felt this to be a reasonable request. I took care of it.

I also recently sent out rent increase notices, and now I got a request from a different tenant to replace a refrigerator because it's "rusted on the front and side." Apparently they have painted over it and it works fine....

A third tenant recently asked me to come by to look at something in her apartment. I haven't met her yet, but can only expect a request to come out of this as well.

At the end of the day, I want to address the basic needs of my tenants, but I can't help thinking that either that people got word of the original showerhead I replaced, or they're just taking advantage of the rent increase. With the refrigerator, my fear is that the other tenants will see the appliance guy show up and race to get in line for their new fridge, too.

Thanks in advance!