All Forum Posts by: Jon M.

@James P. For some reason the tags didn't come out on my phone, probably because my company still insists on using blackberrys... 

@Kevin Siedlecki

@Michael Noto Thanks for the advise! That's what I'm thinking. I'm lucky to have found a realtor that has a good feel of the market at least for Wallingford and best of all answers the phone when I call him, a seemingly rare quality among realtors I've been in contact with. You are an elusive bunch, no offense intended : )

I have been doing most of the research on my own, pulling data from citydata, zillow and the like. In your opinion is the info just as accurate as a CMA report from a realtor would be, minus the obvious decrease in data points? Is that something he should be doing?

@Chris Puglisi Yeah, they are few and far between. As I understand it, North Haven is even scarcer...?

Right now I am specifically interested in New Haven, Hamden and Wallingford. Reason being, New Haven has one of the higher rates of appreciation in the past few years (the overall state is a bit behind the rest of the country) and gets some decent rents. Hamden, also gets some decent rents and seems to be a similar market, at least the portion that is close in proximity. Wallingford is a really desirable place to live and the quality of tenants tends to be above average even in that he "worst" parts. I still look at Mwriden but not with that the same intensity due to the continuous rise in crime, low appreciation and lesser quality of tennants. Rentalk comunitis are pretty scarce in community's nearby other than that. This is all based on my own research and general feel though so I could be wrong on some or all of these notions so please feel free to give your opinions.

@James P. Absolutely James. However I like to do a quite thorough analysis which might take me a couple hours if it is something I am interested in. I suppose it's just a balance between doing full analysises and the oportunity cost of missing out on analyzing other deals that might have worked out. 

@Jason Siedlecki I completely agree with you. I've found this to be especially true in New Haven itself where the property values of similar multis a street over can vary on the order of 10s of thousands. I am interested though, are the investments you are making more geared toward building nice equity through reab work or are you more concerned with cashflow off the bat? I feel that these factors have varied widely with properties I've looked at even with properties that come out similarly with quick rules of thumb like the above mentioned.

@Corey Spruill Thanks Corey. I have been trying to focus on the East Rock/ Albertus Magnus area but the good deals that seem to add up with the numbers seem to be in the Dixwell/Shelton ave area. The rents do seem to be underpriced on a lot of the properties which helps my numbers a bit but I am not sure that this trend is going to continue and even then the houses in decent areas aren't under around 300,000.

@Jack D. I am looking for multis, fourplexes if I can but I would settle for a duplex. 

Hi,

I'm a new investor in the New Haven area. I've ran the numbers on probably 20-30 properties in New Haven/Hamden today, analyzing them first by the 2% guideline (1 months income/purchase price >= 2%) before going any further. I only found 1 that came close to the criteria and it was in an area of New Haven that I definitely don't want to invest in (high crime, high vacancy, low appreciation etc...) I'm wondering if maybe the market in CT is too expensive for that rule to hold true or I should decrease the purchase price I use to be a good amount lower than the asking price...? Maybe I shouldn't expect to get any more than that? Any advise would be appreciated!

@Brandon L.

Thanks Brandon,

I just gave the article a read. Some good points there, all of which I am concerned with. I have given a few agents calls, but it seems difficult to weed out those undesirable characteristics over a phone conversation. Perhaps this is a sign that they are not what I am looking for?

As a real estate agent yourself, would you find it burdensome or overly time consuming to have a new investor request a face to face meeting over lunch or something of the sort to get a better feel for what mutual benefits could come of working together?

I'm not sure of other ways to gauge interest/commitment other than a sit down meeting besides perhaps trial and error.

Thanks for the reference!

Will do! Thanks Sean

Hi,

I am new to real estate investing, getting ready to make my first purchase of a single family in Meriden. Although I do not need any assistance on this transaction, I would like to start looking for my second and need an investor friendly real estate agent with whom to continue finding potential investments.

 I am would like to acquire multi-families in New Haven county (not more than a 35, 40 minute drive from Meriden/Wallingford). 

If anyone has any referrals or suggestions on how to find a good agent, they would be much appreciated! 

Thanks in advance for any assistance!