All Forum Posts by: Martin Woll

Hi @Meghan Danaher, I am in a similar situation to you. I purchased a two unit building set up as a condo. I am going to live in one unit and rent the other out. What did you end up doing with your place?

Thanks,

Martin

Thanks @Frank Chin for the reference to that post. Interesting.

For this property I will be owning both units. One unit I will live in and the other unit I will rent out. My question is as the sole owner of the property, should I establish a condo association or should I manage the property as a two family home with me as the owner?

Thank you

Martin

Hi BP gang!

I am purchasing a two family home in Jersey City. I am buying both units using 2 separate mortgages. I will be living in one unit and renting out the other unit.

What are the pro's and con's of structuring this place as 2 condo's with a HOA? My goal is to live in one of the units for 3-5 years and then move out and rent it out. I plan on holding both units for an extended period of time.

1. Should I structure the property as 2 condo's with an HOA? Is this good for insurance purposes or should I structure it as a two-family home?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Martin

Dear BP Community,

Hope everyone is having a great summer.

I am looking to rent my 1BR condo in Hoboken, New Jersey during the fourth quarter of 2016. I had a few questions for the community:

1) Do people recommend me putting the property in a LLC to limit my personal liability? Or should I take out an insurance policy to cover me on that? I also need to figure out how the LLC would affect my personal tax returns.

2) Does anyone have any good recommendations for a real estate attorney in or around Hoboken that could review my leases for me?

3) Does anyone know a good CPA/Accountant in or around the Hoboken area that could help me?

Thanks BP!

Martin

@Ricardo S. Ricardo, if you want a duplex in one of the 5 boroughs I think the price will be at least $500k, which is what have been seeing. Clearly, this might be slightly higher than some very undesirable places but I am looking to be close to a subway line and not too far from manhattan. You can certainly do FHA and I was thinking of doing that but at $500k your mortgage insurance will be another $500 a month on top of principal, interest, taxes and insurance. In nyc you will most likely not find a place that will cash flow using that method. It increasingly difficult to find props that will cash flow with conventional financing. My suggestion is that you put a lot of effort to find an engineering job. I work full time and am able to use all my savings to deploy into real estate. You need to save a lot more money too. I am thinking it just might make sense to put down 20% for a down payment. Trust me, the most important thing you can be doing for your financial freedom is to find a full time job. Then at night and on weekends you learn more about real estate. If you have questions or comments let me know. As I said this is just my opinion.

hi @Ricardo S. 

I am a relatively new real estate investor but thought I could give you my thoughts. First, you are not screwed when the fed raises rates. In fact they haven't even set a date of when that would happen but the futures market for interest rates indicate a rate hike could come sometime in middle 2015. Additionally, when they do raise rates it will be in small increments such as 25bps or 0.25%. A rise in rates might actually cool some prices in some markets as getting financing will be more expensive. Bottom line is I wouldn't let this spoil your plans. 

I also live in brooklyn and have been looking for multi family properties. I am not sure where you would get one doe 160k. I have seen complete dumps that are still north of 500k. I too have looked into fha financing and at first I thought it was an interesting idea. But the mortgage insurance you have to pay is a a lot. That mortgage insurance is essentially money that is not being used to pay down your mortgage. I have been exploring alternative ways to finance such as piggy back loans or seller financing. Since you are young and not employed full time and still in college maybe it is better to just save as much money as you can? Those places that cost 160k are not going to rent for that much.  You might be stuck looking in Canarsie or east New York if there are even places that cheap. 

I would just say do your research and homework and don't be too quick to pull the trigger. Good luck! 

Martin

@Mike D'Arrigo Hi Mike,

I would be very interested in checking out your webinar. Could you send me a link to it?

Thanks!

@Nick Intrieri Welcome to the community. Like you I am a novice and have been poking around the site for ~5 months. You should try to go to the BP meetups that @Darren Sager puts on. Good place to meet people and just learn more about the business from a wide range of people.

@Jonathan Makovsky You are very right sir! But trust me I would rather have that problem among others. Thanks for the feedback.

What is your investing niche and strategy? 

Hi BP Community,

I am a real estate investor (newbie) looking to buy a multi-family building (2-4 units) in the NYC area including Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx or surrounding areas. I intend to live in one of the units.

I have been thinking about using some direct marketing campaigns to source some deals. I have a purchase price range of what I want to pay. Does that mean direct marketing would be a bad idea since my purchase price is bounded? For example, what happens if I find a deal that I couldn't afford or just didn't have the financial resources to pull it off? I know that isn't necessarily a bad idea to have a good deal. I have a feeling some of you might say if you get a great deal I can look for partners or try to wholesale it. I work full time so I don't have all the time in the world. And I am also wanting to do the first deal on my own to start building a track record (even it is only one deal).

All and any thoughts and critiques are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Martin