All Forum Posts by: Maxwell Milholland

I'm working through the details though. Market research is very time consuming.

@John W. I'm currently trying to figure that out. I've been doing some research comparing the local markets looking at things like unemployment, rent rates, income levels, property taxes, etc. Honestly I do not know! I know that I would like a tenant pool who is credit worthy, trustworthy, and not low income. I'd rather invest in a higher income area and not have to deal with terrible tenants. As far as where that is I am not sure yet. Super new at this haha

Hello everybody,

I am looking to start investing in the near future in Buffalo, New York. I am looking for duplexes in the 100-200k range in a good neighborhood that will produce an abundant pool of responsible, trustworthy, and creditworthy tenants. I am beginning to narrow down my search and the criteria that I am considering is as follows: 

Population size/Growth

Where are people coming from? 

Unemployment rate/how many people are employed?

Household incomes

GDP per capita

Crime rate

Property taxes

Number of owners vs renters

Price to rent ratios

vacancy rates

Housing prices.

I am wondering if this about covers what I should be looking for in a particular area, or if there are any important factors that I should be considering. Also, if anybody has any good suggestions as to which websites or resources they use to find their market data I would greatly appreciate the feedback. Currently I use:

Rentometer

County Assessors website

Neighborhood scout

Zillow

Various property manager's websites.

Thank you all!

Hey everybody! I'm a little late to the party, but I'm wondering if it is a bad time to start investing? I'm 26, live in buffalo, own no property, and everything I run numbers on is negative cash flow. Do I suck at finding deals or is the 716 market overpriced?

@Ned Carey Hey Ned haha yeah I've been reading like a mad man. I guess I want to house hack a duplex, somewhere in the 100-200 k range, a range where I know that if I fail at everything I can still afford the mortgage payment. But, I don't think I'll fail at EVERYTHING, so I'm hoping that at the very least I can find a property that with other unit's rent will at least cover some (preferably  most) of my mortgage payment. If I cash flow, great! But with only 3.5 percent down, I don't expect to cash flow. If I wind up Paying 500 a  month for the mortgage, I will be spending less than I am for my current rent and I will have got into my first deal. Does any of this make sense? haha

@Eric Adobo totally meant to mention that, 30k a year. 50-60 in a couple years when I graduate school

Hello again Bigger Pockets community, Is there anybody out there willing to walk me through finding my first deal. A bit about me: I Live in Buffalo, New York and want to invest here (or nearby). In three months time, I will have around $10,000 I can invest into a property (more if I stumble upon a creative financing possibility) but at the very least 10K. I currently believe house hacking is my safest, easiest way into real estate. Any suggestions as to where to look, what to look for, which strategies to employ, etc, is greatly appreciated!

@J Scott Thank you! That definitely clears up some misconceptions that I had. I am obviously new to this whole thing, and I am considering "house hacking" my first rental property as a means to get my foot in the door. I've been scanning Zillow and redfin for weeks, analyzing information and trying to put the pieces together, but I have not yet determined the excact criteria for my search. Am I looking for fixer-uppers? Which areas should I be looking? What is an appropriate upper limit on how much I should spend on renovations? Of course, this all depends on my particular situation, but is there any general advice you can give me to help me get this real estate train rolling? 

Thank you both!! Redfin it is

Thanks everybody! @@Hattie Dizmond I'm not sure if you or misread my post or what, but I'm well aware that the ARV doesn't always increase by the same amount of the renovations made. My question is why? I see a lot of posts and articles saying investor bought propert A at whatever amount, put x amount of dollars in renovations into it, and now all of a sudden the increase in the value of the property is double or more the amount spent in renovations. How is this logical and what is the principle behind this?