All Forum Posts by: Ronald Starusnak

 I agree, I don't know if it is ignorance or intentional sometimes. 

In NY we are already required to accept Section 8, we can't turn away for previous evictions and bunch of other junk. For the section 8 stuff, we just don't give people a reason as to why they were rejected. We don't respond after they have filled out an application. You can also refuse to fix certain things in a property and section 8 won't allow the tenants to live there, egress window size, handrail spindle distance, etc. Really small stuff can kill the ability of a tenant with section 8 to live in your property. A good friend of mine has his applicants submit a current power bill that must show the bill is current and not past due. If you can't pay your power bill, you're not going to pay your rent. 

Steve Donigan 

Frank, I think your other post may have been removed. Which lender are you referring? 

@Molly Walsh with Renpro.org - She is an investor, agent, and property manager in the Syracuse market. 

     Syracuse has been popping up as one of the best markets to invest in right now and for good reason. The property prices are very low, the job market is picking up, property appreciation in the areas outside of the City Limits are 4%+ in some areas. We have a new amazon facility, large microchip manufacturing facility being built in Oneida county, and many other smaller businesses that are bringing hope to this area that was on the downslope for a long time

     I am an investor in the area, I know many other investors in the Syracuse market, many of them are on this forum as well. We own a construction & remodeling company that handles all of our own remodels, we manage properties, and my Wife is an agent. We have built a great team that is focused on real estate investing in the Upstate NY market. Our day-to-day life is 100% real estate and we do nothing else. We use our little real estate machine every day, in 2020 we purchase 50+ units, mostly single family and some 2-family. With that being said: 

BUT DON'T BE  A SLUMLORD. lol

There are parts of Syracuse that do not make sense to buy in right now due to the condition of the properties that lie therin, we can change this. The Syracuse land bank is an organization that is actively taking properties from bad landlords and landlords who are not paying their taxes. The Land bank is doing a pretty good job at selling houses with the contingency that you MUST make the minimum amount of repairs. You're not going to BRRRR in many parts of Syracuse but you can build a portfolio and sell that later on down the line and you can still build a great cash flowing set of properties but please do not make the mistake of looking at the cost per door or the cap rate and thinking you're getting a great deal. You may be getting a deal but look at the condition of the properties first.

Many of these properties will need work and many of them are beautiful and historic in appearance with great bones. You can purchase properties from the Syracuse Landbank for $1,000 but also know that you're going to be putting in $70,000 to remodel the property. Focus not only on the interior of a property but on the exterior. There are far too many investors who are buying from other tired investors and they do NOTHING to the properties. These properties are a blight on the city. We met with a pair of investors who purchased 40 units at "$12k" a door and that's all they could talk about. These properties were in terrible shape and I would never rent any of them out, the investor wanted to rent them out for $300 at least just to keep the money coming in. 

If you're going to buy in Syracuse, make sure you're planning on increasing the quality of the property. Let's continue to bring this city up and change the way tenants view their landlords in Syracuse. I always have at least a $15k budget on our properties, there may be old asbestos siding in good shape but if it's ugly then we're going to paint it, if the porches on the front of the house are ugly, we're changing them, wrap the window trim in metal, throw a new roof on even if the current one isn't yet leaking, parge the foundation, replace the old cabinets, don't use $2/sqft laminate flooring, replace the dang trim if it's been painted over 100 times, remove the ugly wires from the outside of the house and have the cable company install new ones, fix the grading of the yard, trim trees, and repair sidewalks. These are the biggest factors in transforming a property. 

If you're not sure what the true cost of a repair would be feel free to ask me for advice, we are currently not for hire though. If you need an agent, reach out to @Molly Walsh 315-400-2654 | She is purely focused on investment properties and knows the ins and outs of the Syracuse market. We also have great contacts for insurance agents, lawyers, and short sale specialists. 

It seems a little unethical but if he felt you were just tire kicking then I can see why he would have done that. Real Estate is a quick moving game, make your intentions known up front to remove all plausible deniability. Switch agents too. 

Most contractors worth their salt are indeed booked out for the foreseeable future. I have some subs in the Adirondack region that might be able to help a little quicker though. They're not good at the business end but their work is good. 

Christopher, while it is technically required to fix a property should anything happen. There is very little to be done to force the landlord to repair these should the water, electrical, or heat stop working. If any of these systems fail, you should immediately call codes in the area in which your property is located and ask to have the property condemned. A condemned property can not be occupied. The tenants will be forced to leave. The tenant has rights, they could sue you but it is very unlikely that a non-paying tenant is going to take the time to file a lawsuit. 

For example, if you have a small water leak in the basement somehow from some plumbing, you must have the plumbing shut off. No running water will lead to the property being condemned. If there is something wrong with the electrical and you have to remove some breakers, then electrical will not work and the property will be condemned, if a fuse for the furnace blower motor blows and you can not afford to fix it, the property will be condemned. 

COVID-19 hit us landlords hard and we can't afford to fix our properties and our poor non-paying tenants may be put on the street when stuff breaks. It is very sad. We can not control the pricing or scheduling of HVAC techs, plumbers, electricians and no one can force us to use a specific contractor. Your contractor is probably too busy to fix the property right now and having codes condemn the property is unfortunately the only solution. 

 You have to be joking.. a cap rate is calculated as the ratio between the net operating income produced by an asset and the original capital cost or alternatively its current market value. You are missing a big piece of the puzzle here.