All Forum Posts by: Paul Mendel

@Gina Jurlando Iv lived in albany my whole life, even went to albany High, Amazing iv never been shot ehh? I own 2 families in albany and do just fine. Your parents should have done better research on there areas of investing vs, buying the cheapest properties they could find in the worst areas. 

With that said  do you have info on the 12 units your looking to liquidate?

I mostly have stuck to albany (pine hills area), But need to branch out, Saratoga is too pricey for me at the time.

Start with the investment property, This way you can get an owner occupied mortgage on a multi family (2-4),  Keeping your down payment and interest rate much lower (fha has 3-5% down, and 3-4% mortgages right now) Then after a year you can go do the same thing on a single family, VS starting with a single family and needing a commercial loan for the investment property  (20-30% down, 5-7% Mortgage

They are massively different Markets, Saratoga is on Fire, Albany is dying..

But im not really sure what kind of information you need?

Make sure you have cash, or access to outside funds,

If you plan on getting a discount, and using a mortgage your chances get drastically slimmer.

Stay away from 203k loans (have more cash available for the rehab) you will get stuck with FHA inspectors and end up needing to fix more then you may want to, be required to use more expensive contractors, and go through hell trying to finish the work under budget.

Then if you did everything the right way, bought at the right price, and stayed under budget on the rehab, you should then refi the whole thing out with a local bank (i like trustco) where you can get a great rate, and no PMI and put all your cash back without taking any money out of your pocket.

Your biggest advantage is homeowners get first crack at alot of the properties, keep your eye on hud and homepath.

Id agree with Ryan, 7 is WAY to low for that area, Avg 2 familys sell for 35-40k a door over there, (3bed 1 bath units)

Debt service also should not be in a proforma,

There is/aways will be somewhat of a demand for single family rentals, This is due to lack of inventory, Because most educated investors know that single family investing tends to carry to much risk with limited reward unless the markets appreciating like crazy. If you think Albany's taxes are bad wait till you see guilderlands, a 3/2 sfh in North colonie would likely rent in the 1800 range, but you have to pay 250k for a decent one.. the numbers rarely work unless your getting killer deals on them. Remember SFH are sold at Market value not a Return on Investment or Income calculation. I'm not saying money cant be made, but its just not "smart" investing "typically".

Hello, 

Another Albany native here, Pine Hills is not likely where you want to move your wife into if your concerned about "live-ability" Your really going to want to look more into the New Scotland areas, Pine Hills(Madison Ave area) has unfortunately gotten significantly rougher and can get a bit rowdy when College is in full swing. 

Unfortunately the 2-family price point from Pine Hills to New Scotland jumps a good 50-75k making them alot less profitable but a much better area, Hug AMC as best as you can on the west side for the best shot at the best tenants.

Also if you didn't know when your running your numbers Albany JUST passed a new garbage fee.  Add $180/y per every unit over a single family. 

I Have 2 2-families in Albany and manage 3 more so I'm pretty involved in the area, Feel free to reach out if I can help at all.

Sounds like Troy.. 

There is alot of ways to go depending on what you want to spend and how complex you want to get, You can always get another Single room space heater Check out rinnai units. Depending on the space in the attic you can install a furnace up there with a distribution system. There is the worst way of install electric baseboards, or if you have the room to install a small wall hung boiler (maybe where the hotwater tank is) and run hot water baseboards... too many variables without knowing whats going on. 3-15k

Welcome from Albany!