All Forum Posts by: Jon B.

@Juan Reyes The properties in PA did appreciate in value a lot if you purchased in the 1990's and sold pre-recession.  My parents have a home in the Poconos that was worth $200-220k before the recession, and is now at around $140-150k. The area still has a large number of commuters that take a coach bus early in the morning to the city.  Google "martz buses" and you will see what towns they leave from.  Right now the part of PA that interests me a lot is Scranton due to a potential train from there to NYC.

Question about how this Section 8 thing works.... Here's an example of what I'm looking at....

Property is for sale for $55k and is newly rehabbed. It should pass HUD inspection with either minimal or no work needed.

Taxes are $900/year 
Insurance would be an estimated $750/year.
Water is around $800/year.

With 20% down, the P&I will be $230/month, or $2,760/year. 

All together, $5,210 a year. 

Now for this zip code, according to huduser.gov data, the rent limit is $1,110 for a 3 bedroom. If I were to charge $1,100 a month rent for this property thru a Section 8 tenant (who would only pay 30% of their income out of their pocket and have HUD cover the rest.

$1,100 times 12 months is $13,200... take away 25% for repairs, maintenance, vacancy (very liberal number IMO), then that leaves us with $9,900 minus the $5,210 to operate would leave with a $4,690 cash flow on the year off of a $11k down payment.

Would doing this make sense or is there anything I'm forgetting??  The property is in Philadelphia.. I know the city pretty well but do not know how the local housing authority works and their reputation.

The outside looks pretty good in the photos, but the inside needs a ton of work... It's three units total and needs a lot of work... Based on the photos, how much would you estimate this flip?? I know certain things can't be seen from photos alone, such as foundation, electrical, plumbing, and other things... thanks all.

I'm in Queens and looking to house hack a 2-4 unit in Port Jervis or Middletown as my first investment... But after that I've been doing research in Scranton, PA, Lehigh Valley and Philly areas since I know them well and can get relatively cheap deals on.... As far as out of state goes, Indianapolis looks good and so does Kansas City.

@Joe Villeneuve The thing is that I work in NYC, and have to live in the city or surrounding NY county due to my job, and Orange county is the most affordable between Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Putnam, and the city.

So I'm pretty much ready to start my house hunting process but it seems like my pessimism is overtaking everything that I think. I'm looking at Orange county NY and looking at a 2-4 unit property, where I'll live in one unit and rent the others. It seems like every deal that I look at, I either come to one of the conclusion: the property taxes are too high to pull a decent profit (Monroe); the area isn't a desired area (Port Jervis, Newburgh); or the property needs a lot of work and may have a huge hidden repair that is unknown to it due to old age. I'll be using FHA to finance and have no problem with using the 203k loan for rehab. My goal is to make the property as cheap as possible because I only plan on living in it for the one year required as I purchase another investment afterwards. I run the numbers on the deals accounting for all costs (capex, maintenance, vacancy included), and many seem like good deals.... But I always see myself coming back and questioning myself on whether it really is a good deal based on one of the subjects stated earlier. Am I being too picky or cautious, or is this feeling justified??

Does anyone know of a website that has MLS listings where you can search for triplex or quadplex? I know some have a multi-family option, but most are 2 unit properties; just wondering if there's anything out there to search for 3 or 4 unit properties?

Hi everyone.  I've been doing my homework into real estate investing and have determined this is the route that I want to go to build wealth.  I like the hands-on approach in picking your own houses, projects, tenants and so forth; and believe that the harder you work at this, he bigger the reward.  I would like to assume that I've educated myself fairly well so far by reading several books, listening to 100+ podcasts, and running thru many 'scenarios' where I calculate cash-flow of properties after expenses.  

I have decent credit around 700 and roughly $20k in savings, as well as a civil service job (guaranteed paycheck) where I'm making $75k this year, and will be making $100k-120k in two years with raises.  My only debts are $20k in student loans and $10k on a car loan.  Currently I'm renting a place with a friend where we pay $1,700 a month for a 2 bedroom here in Queens.  (I'm open to investing in NYC, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties since I must reside in those counties).  I have a mentor in a former landlord who owns 10 properties and manages them himself now that he's retired.

I think to start it would be best to invest using a house hacking method, and then once I am established and comfortable enough, to do a home flip or invest in a property using the BRRRR method.

My short-term goal is to purchase a 2-4 unit property where I "house hack" and live for free or almost free, while saving roughly $1k a month towards a down payment on a 2nd multi-unit property within 24 months.

My long-term goal is to own and invest in numerous properties (purchasing one new property every 12-18 months). 

My question to what can I do to move towards these goals?? 

Have the police do a welfare check on him and the condo if you can't get in touch with him.  If anything suspicious is going on, he's going to jail.

What are peoples experience with vacancy rates in the hood?