All Forum Posts by: Justin Ward

I know you can get a residential loan on up to a 4 unit property assuming it will be your primary residence, and you can even get a residential loan on a property with a commercial rental like a storefront beneath an apartment as long as the residential space is the majority of the sq footage. The thing I don't know for sure, is whether the commercial space counts towards the unit count. I found a property that has 4 residential units and a downstairs storefront. My gut feeling based on what I've found is that this wouldn't be eligible as residential but I wanted to double check, just in case. 

Trying to find out what apps are the best for the various tasks that real estate investors do on a regular basis. This includes:

• Banking and Credit monitoring
• Calculators 
• Organization and tracking of portfolio
• Spreadsheets 
• Rent Collection
• Reminders/Calendars
and anything else you use on a daily basis. 

What are your favorites?
and
Are there any you would recommend avoiding for any reason? 

Thanks in advance for your help!

Not super knowledgable about student housing, but you will likely need to factor in that students are only usually renting during fall and spring semesters. On top of that, I'd check your repairs estimate against other investors who rent to college students just in case. Students can be rough on rentals and won't care how they leave the place.

On the positive side sometimes colleges have programs set up with local apartments so that students can use their financial aid to pay the rent. That would get you a semesters rent upfront if SU has a similar program. 

Hello @George Jweid, the REI meetups that Rob runs are great. Definitely come to the next one if you can. I actually just got an offer accepted on a duplex in the Tipp Hill area myself, just today. I'd love to hear about your experience in the area so far.

Hopefully this is in the right section. I live in central New York and I'm about to buy my first duplex. I'm trying to learn everything I can about my rights and the tenants rights in order to avoid issues in the future. I've already read through the Fair Housing laws and the tenant's rights manual that my city gives out. I've read that the Fair Housing laws in New York do NOT apply to owner occupied duplex's. The only rule that still applies seems to be racial discrimination which should be obvious anyway.  But I never see examples of what the rules actually ARE for owner occupied duplex's. Some of the things I want to know are:

Can I refuse someone with a criminal record from living in my home?

If my tenant gets into a relationship and their significant other wants to move in, do I have more say in the matter than a normal rental property? I'm mainly worried because I plan on being diligent with background checks but with normal rentals in NY you don't have a right to run a background check on occupants that aren't signing your lease. This seems like a huge risk to have to allow someone that I have no information on, to live in my home. 

If an occupant is not following the rules but the tenant is, are their legal actions I can take to evict an occupant that isn't on the lease? for example smoking in the apartment or being loud past a reasonable hour.

If an occupant who isn't on the lease is involved in domestic violence against my tenant, will I have the ability to evict them from the property even if the tenant wants them to stay?

I know I may be getting a little specific but the closer I get to closing, the more I want to be sure that I know what to do in every corner case. I really appreciate any information on these or similar scenarios. Thanks!

Forgot to mention a link to the blog is also on my profile page if you drop down the "see more" button in my about me section. 

As the title says I'm beginning the process to get my first investment property and I'm blogging to document the process since I had trouble finding info on first deals when I was doing research initially. This Deal Diaries section is really fun to browse and read all of your awesome stories, but blogs have a little more meat to them, which is why I chose that method. 

Currently I have my eyes on a property and am waiting on responses from the owners. If I can get this property it will be a $65,000 rehab project, though much of that is in replacing duplicate items like furnaces, and water heaters. I want to make sure that my blog is documenting enough to be valuable info while also not being too much mundane information that readers get bored by it. If any of you would like to read it and give feedback on it so far I'd really appreciate it. Or if you have advice for what you and others like to hear most in these types of deal stories I'd also love to hear it. 

Here is the link to the blog, it currently has 2 entries but I plan on adding a third in the next couple days with a property analysis.
https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/11850-the-beginning-first-house-hack

I'll be there! Since we are in the middle of tax season, I'm hoping to hear some tax strategies that other's have used or plan on using. It's not the most exciting topic but from what I've read, utilizing tax credits and cost segregation can be big factors in how successful a property is, so I'd love to hear what others  are doing.