All Forum Posts by: Joe Ruggiero

@Ovais Zuberi I'm in a similar boat to you. I've opened my "investment" savings account at Ally bank because they have one of the higher yield interest rates (1.45% right now). It's tough but with the volatility in the market it's not worth it to me thinking I have one amount, getting my offer accepted, and then come to find out the market falls and I have a fraction of it. Just my 2cents.

@Harsh Patel I'm looking to do the exact same thing in the Boston area. The issue I've had is because prices are decently high, putting only 3.5% down on a property completely skews the numbers. It seems to me, in my area at least, that unless you're putting 10% down or more it's going to be tough to budget in everything you need to and still come out in the black.

Would love any experienced investors input on this..  

@Josue Velney Thanks Josue! Property Management is a line item I've had some internal debate over as well. I plan to manage myself for the foreseeable future, but everything I read says to always budget in PM just in case. The issue I see is exactly what you said where as I'm trying to get started and don't have all this cash to put down the numbers are really tight. I've taken the approach that if it's an a location I really want to be in and the only thing that makes the numbers work is pulling out PM then I'll do it. I will have to pay PMI as well, so the way I see it is that if I at least manage the property until I have 20% equity and can refi to drop PMI then that money will then be freed up for management if I need it.

@Steve Bracero Thanks Steve! These are all really good bits of info. Most of the properties I'm looking at have separate electric -- I need to start checking to for any mention of sub-meters for water. Without sub-meters I think it makes a lot of sense to incorporate as many water efficient appliances as possible.

@James E. Thanks James! I plan to buy a 2-4 unit (most likely 2 in this area) property. I'm looking pretty much everywhere on the north shore as well as some of the surrounding communities. I've looked at Lowell, Haverhill and Nashua as well, but I'd rather stay on the north shore if I can.

@Enis Shehu Thanks Enis! I've been budgeting all of those things out, but I think I've been shorting myself cashflow because I've been budgeting in both electric and garbage. If I can ask how do you control potentially losing money on water? Do you budget water into the rent? What if you have a tenant who takes 2 hr showers.. hypothetically lol 

Hey BP Boston! I have a question on running the numbers in Massachusetts. I’ve been basically running the numbers on multi-family B+Hs for practice the past 3-6 months. I always run them assuming I wouldn’t be living in the property even though I plan to house hack. My question is should I be budgeting money each month for electric, water, and garbage or is it possible to have the tenant take care of all these things as long as the property is set up for that? I’m finding it makes a huge difference in cash flow and what I can afford. Let me know!

My biggest fear is unfamiliar rental markets. I've lived in the same city outside Boston my entire life and it's the market I feel most comfortable with. The downside to that is it's a good rental market, which means super competitive/expensive along with the surrounding cities. There are affordable properties a half hour to an hour outside the area I live, but I have no idea what the demand for renters is, etc. I guess it boils down to fear of the unknown. 

Also, this is my inaugural post. Feels good. :)