All Forum Posts by: Mike Paolucci

Quote from @Bethany S Labrinos:

Hi BP Community,

My husband and I have been preparing to begin our real estate investment journey, and we could use some insight.  We've essentially ruled out investing in our local community because we can't seem to find a good deal (we live about 1.5 hours north of NYC, so purchase prices are very high), so we are considering (1) investing out of state; or (2) investing in some northern NY localities (Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, etc.).  We would love to hear from anyone who current invests in any of the northern NY cities/towns about how their experience has been, what the pros/cons are to these markets, general thoughts.  If you have specific thoughts about any particular area, we would love to hear about that too.  It would be our preference to invest in upstate NY because we could drive there relatively easily, but if there are better deals elsewhere, we would be more inclined to go with option (1).

 Welcome to BP! I was in a similar situation in 2021 while living in San Francisco. I ended up investing in Ohio and haven't looked back since. 

Can't say much about upstate NY except my father grew up in Albany and attended Syracuse University. I'll echo what Nadeem mentioned about investing locally. If you can find deals that makes sense then that's the best route. Unfortunately that wasn't the case for me and so here I am in Columbus, Ohio. 

Columbus presents a little different type of investing from Cleveland but you can still find good properties that will give you some cashflow each month (not life changing but with your goal of 100 doors then it'll add up eventually). The tradeoff is the fact that you'll see more appreciation out of Columbus than you will see from most of the other parts of Ohio. 

I'd also recommend checking out Dayton and Cincy. 

You'll also want to make sure you look into a good property manager since they'll be your biggest help to stabilize and manage the day to day operations of owning property. 

Happy to answer any questions & good luck with your investing journey!

Quote from @Marcos De la Cruz:

Anyone have experience with multi family section 8?

Section 8 can be worth it if you have the right teams in place. 

Some general pros v cons - I'm sure other people will provide other insights as well

Pros: 
-Above market rents
- Monthly rent payment on time that you don't have to worry about or chase anyone down for (if full pay)
- No shortage of tenants depending on your standards 
- Tenants are incentivized to not trash/destroy the unit, otherwise they'll lose their voucher (Yearly inspections made by local S8 inspectors to keep everyone honest
- Rental payouts are normally adjusted 1-2 times a year to keep up with market rents

Cons:
- May take a little while to get onboarded - dealing with local govt can always take longer than expected   
- Generally won't have a super high credit score (to be expected given it's the govt paying for rent)
- Each unit will need to be inspected and meet a certain living standard in order to be approved for funding

You'll want to make sure you work with a property manager who has extensive experience in working with S8. They'll know what standards are needed and should be able to assist you getting units ready to go for the inspections. Mine makes it a set standard that each unit they touch MUST meet the section 8 minimum standard of requirements to widen their applicant pool. 

Happy to answer any additional questions & good luck with your investing. 

Welcome to BP! 

Quote from @Ben Callahan:

Hey everyone! Nice to meet you (electronically).

Currently renting a single-family home in a very expensive coastal Southern California city. Not able to buy in this area without going house poor. Not able to move (at least for a while) due to my job.

Looking to use savings that would’ve been for a primary residence down payment to invest in rental property out of state.

Would love to make connections, hear thoughts on good markets to look into, strategies to maximize return, etc. 

Happy to answer any questions and excited to chat with you all!

Welcome to BP Ben! Ran into a similar issue as you back in 2021 when I was living in San Francisco. Ohio presented some great opportunities for me and I'm a big believer in Central Ohio to be more specific. Lots of big time companies coming to the area and building up their infrastructure. 

If you want cashflow, I'd recommend Dayton or Cleveland. If you're looking for appreciation, Columbus is one of the better options in Ohio. 

Good luck on your journey and happy to answer any questions. 

Quote from @Ivan Castanon:

For the past 6 months I’ve been looking for houses (both SF and MF) that can produce at least a little bit of cashflow with around 20% - 30% down.

However, I’ve started to realize that this is pretty much impossible these days.

I currently have $110k sitting in my bank ready to be invested but I just can't find anything that will at least produce a 3% COC return. I've been looking for properties in and around Tampa, Orlando, and St Pete but I can't find anything that's worth it.

I’m starting to realize that I need a new strategy. I can’t keep looking for properties that will cashflow because I feel like I’m wasting my time at this point. I really want to invest in RE but I just don’t know what to do. Any recommendations? What other ways can I invest in RE in the current market.

 Ran into the same issue back in 2021 while living in Northern Cali. I ended up looking out of state and settled on the Ohio markets. I'd recommend looking at Cleveland, Dayton and maybe couple other markets in Ohio. 

You can also look into REITS but I prefer owning my asset and not sharing with anyone I'm not in business with. 

Quote from @David Young:

My wife and I are new to this and are saving for our first property our goal is to start looking for properties in November 25, we have a couple questions, would it be wise to invest out of state for our first time investment (we do plan on physically going to see the properties to potentially invest in) ? where can we find places-websites to analyze areas that will provide positive cash flow? Would it be wise to use a HELOC on our current residence to use for a down payment on a new property

 Hey @David Young. If you can invest locally, I'd recommend doing that before investing out of state. You'll be able to monitor everything a lot easier if you can invest in your own backyard and won't have to jump on a flight or incur any unneeded expenses. 

If investing locally isn't feasible then out of state investing is a great way to get the ball rolling. I got started doing that in 2021 while living in northern CA. 

You won't have a shortage of recommendations when it comes to cashflow areas here on BiggerPockets. There's plenty of threads that you can read about and begin to deep dive on various markets. Once you get that ironed out, connect with some local investor focused realtors who also invest themselves who can help source deals for you to look at. They should also be able to connect you with some local resources to help you build your teams out as well. 

Using a HELOC isn't a bad way to go as long as the numbers make sense.

Happy to share some out of state investing experiences. Good luck with your investing journey! 

Quote from @Alyssa Abegg-Garcia:

Hello! My name is Alyssa and I'm new to real estate investing. My husband and I are interested in growing our wealth to make work optional w/in 5-10 years.  We are targeting buying our first property this year, ideally a duplex/triplex/quadplex for a long term rental. I currently live in Olympia, WA (high cost of living, and not very landlord friendly state), so plan to invest out of state. At this time I'm focusing on researching markets in the midwest (Indianapolis, IN; OH) due to the lower property costs. I'm looking for something that's at least cash flow neutral and will appreciate. I'd love to connect with others who are investing in these markets, as well as agents, property managers and investor-friendly lenders. I'm happy to provide insights on western Washington, as we have lived in Seattle, Tacoma, and now Olympia. 

Looking forward to connecting!

 Hi Alyssa, welcome to BP! With your goals in mind, I would recommend looking into A / B class properties depending on your overall budget. You'll find that they'll appreciate nicely and you'll also be dealing with better tenants with less turnover. 

Central Ohio has a lot of great companies coming to town. Here's a link for the latest company choosing to come to Central Ohio Anduril Industries - Defense Manufacturing Facility. 

Good luck with your investing journey! 

Hey Kay. I'll send over a couple of referrals. 

Quote from @Emily Shin:

Hello, I am new to this community and to real estate investing. Currently, I live in New York, but I am interested in exploring opportunities in Columbus, Ohio. This will be my first home purchase, and I am aiming to invest in multi-family properties.

What should I be aware of when purchasing a multi-family property? I am considering living in one of the units myself. Do you think that’s a good idea? Would living in the same property as my tenants have any downsides?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, and I look forward to connecting with all of you

 Hi Emily, welcome to BP! You can find some good properties here in Columbus. Living in one of the units is a great idea when starting out so you can limit your living expenses. Lots of investors start out house hacking. I'm currently house hacking a duplex in Hilliard, OH (Columbus Suburb). 

Living in the same property as your tenants is fine. If you're planning on managing the rental unit yourself, you'll learn a lot about owning rentals pretty quickly. Another option would be to utilize a property manager to manage everything and keep a buffer between you and the tenants. It can make life easier when it comes to having to make a business decision and think with your head, rather than your heart. 

Depending on your budget, I'd recommend areas like Olde Towne East, Clintonville, Merion Village, Grandview, Southern Orchards and a few others. 

Quote from @Kaleb Johnson:

Hey guys, I am a real estate agent looking to get into property investing. I was wondering what are some good areas to look into for investing. I live in Upstate New York but i was thinking of areas more out west or down south. Thanks!

 If you can invest locally, that's going to be your safest and best route to being able to manage the property and limit your expenses. Best case scenario would be house hacking a duplex / triplex / quadplex and learning in your back yard. 

If that's not an option then make sure you do plenty of research into what markets have growing economies and what is driving the growth into the future. Central Ohio presents a lot of growth and is landlord friendly but highly recommend you do your own research and figure out what market you want to invest in. 

Once you've figured that out, take a trip and explore the area a bit and make sure it's an area you're comfortable investing in. 

Lastly, figure out what Property Manager you're going to use. They'll be your best friend & business partner in making sure the property performs and gets the attention it needs to keep tenants in place for years to come.