All Forum Posts by: Lyndon Major

My wife are in the process of closing a single family STR (first one is in FT Lauderdale) in Blue Ridge, Georgia. I think we have accounted for most things.....location is good with mountain views, great condition...well furnished. I am a bit worried about vacancy rate...AirDNA reports an occupancy rate of 60% and this seemingly is corroborated by Pricelabs data. However, when I go on AirBNB it seems like most cabins are vacant. Is there anyone investing in the area with advice?

Large ones! At least three bedrooms. People expect more space - multiple bedrooms, family rooms, dens, home offices, game rooms. For duplexes I want to buy in the future, I would aim for at least 2,000 sq. ft. per unit, with opportunity to add a bedroom or bathroom to force value appreciation.

Small Multifamily properties (2&3 units) will do great in the areas mentioned as long as they're well maintained (ie: manicured, clean interior, updated medium grade finishes)

I grew up in Marlboro, just above Newburgh and now invest, live and work in Westchester (and invest & work in CT too). 

Ct is much more straight forward with landlord-tenant issues but you’d be looking to Stamford, Norwalk, Bridgeport or Stratford for anything priced to support major cashflow. 

As far as Newburgh goes, there are some major flip potentials there but know that rents in certain areas are stabilized so you’ll need to put more than 50% of the buildings value into it to re-register those rents at higher market values. For buy and hold options, look to the TOWN of newburgh vs city of newburgh. Beacon, Fishkill, Cornwall & New Windsor are other options I would look into before Newbugh. Poughkeepsie is the same as Newbugh but there are not as many properties available. 

Feel free to PM me or call if you want to brainstorm. I’m an agent with Kinard Realty Group and travel all over for the right client.

@Lyndon Major also looking at Orange County also, like you I an new to REI

Scranton has worked out well - there has been rent growth and a bit of appreciation too. It's not normally a big growth market but it seems like there was an influx of people from NY/NJ looking for larger apartments or houses farther away from the big cities.

Hi Lyndon! I live in Brooklyn and started investing in the Hudson Valley last year. I agree finding a cashflowing deal in a desirable area in NYC is tough. For that reason my wife and I looked into Beacon, NY for our first investment. Multi-families in Beacon were above our price range but we found an affordable small 1 BR condo near the Metro North station. I self-managed the rehab which was super time consuming and exhausting, but it paid off in the end. Now we have it listed as a STR and we hired a manager to handle all the guest communications, maintenance, and housekeeping. The property cashflows and we are completely hands off.

We're currently working on our second deal, this time a SMF in Newburgh.  We are planning to self-manage for the sake of gaining experience.  Once it's up and running I'll be happy to share my experiences and lessons learned with you as I'm bound to learn some things the hard way.  If it ends up being too much of a burden I will seek out a property manager (we budgeted for this when we analyzed the property).

Overall it's certainly possible to self-manage from a distance.  Your decision will depend on your skillset and desire to learn from hands on experience.  It could be time consuming so if you want to accelerate your RE investing journey you might be better off just hiring a manager off the bat and using that extra time to focus on your next deal.  Personally my wife and I love the Hudson Valley so visiting the property is a great excuse for us to escape the city and go on a nice hike.

I'd be happy to share more details with you so feel free to connect with me.  Good luck!

Hi Lyndon,

If discussing the ins and outs of house hacking in the Bronx is of interest to you, let me know.