All Forum Posts by: Samantha Cash

Agreed that there will be mold. I'd plan for the cost of replacing the floor, subfloor and run the numbers with that included in upfront costs. Then decide.

I had a cracked bathtub with a really old fan for ventilation and I'm planning for the worst, to have to redo all the sheet rock. Visible mold on the ceiling but I'd rather see that and know what I'm getting into than something hidden with fresh paint.

I'm not near Syracuse, but I think there will always be people opening to places like you are describing though they might not be typical renters.

I rented in a really small town about 2 hours from NYC. It was between two cities but both were a 15-20 min but my landlord still managed to almost always find a renter.  The houses didn't have separate entrances as you are describing. It was straight by the bedroom. 

As a renter I chose it because it was cheaper than a full apartment and I imagine there will always be people looking for a lower price. You should not have to go as low as per room rates but it might be a good thing to look at just to get an idea of price and demand. There were a lot of younger people and turn over was higher for that reason. My extroverted landlord accepted that as part of her strategy. She was a home for a lot folks in transition and some of them fell in the medium term renter pool. Not sure if your open to that, but it might be a model to explore.

I'm glad the estimate was in the range you were thinking. I agree with the observation that houses just outside of towns that only need light renovation have the best returns. I'm learning the design makes a huge difference as you mentioned. Thanks for sharing the update!

 https://ahphome.org/landlord-t... This is the training I went to. 

I haven't been there but I went to school 40 mins for there. I'm guessing it has similar issues too many small towns in Upstate New York. The main concern being not a lot of employment opportunities. While there will probably always be folks that need housing its never a good thing to have local economy is based on one employer. I'm not sure what the case is there but it's something to look into. The other thing that stands out to me is that it could be very hard to find a property manager. 

Thanks for sharing. I'm not sure where exactly the property in but I live in this town. It's a beautiful area and very popular for STRs. Interesting things going on sparked by covid. I personally love the area of the community talked about here, but that view certainly isn't the norm in the area. 

I'm glad you were able to work it out and get a credit. I hope you will still be able to take advantage of the CWC program. Note, the program is from NYC Department of Environmental Protection for any areas that drain to the reservoirs. The NYC drinking water that comes from the reservoirs west of the Hudson isn't filtered, so these programs are important to make sure the water quality says high enough that it doesn't need to be. I interned for NYC DEP in Kingston though it was in a different department so I'm not sure exactly how this program works. There is also a whole team on conversation officers that are working to stop (and fine) pollution in the watershed, though I don't know if they deal with septics or not.  

Do you mind me asking how much you are budgeting for the septic? I saw the CWC said $15k was the average, but I've heard horror stories of $50k septics. If you have gotten an estimate yet, the contractor or engineer should have done a perc test to get an idea of how the soil drains. If more material will need to be brought in that will increase costs.

I'm very curious as to how this deal will work out for you. I would love to break into the STR market in the Catskills, but I don't think there are many great properties right now which offer multiple exit strategies. With the market for selling up 30% I'm assuming resales will be at a loss. I haven't ran the numbers on long term rentals in the Catskill park but I know the average incomes are low. It's different when it's a blend of personal and investment as it sounds like this is for you. My first property was as well, and the long term rental profit isn't great.. hence why I'm looking at short term. Lexington in Greene County just had a board meeting and she mentioned something about Ulster County as a whole, though I'm not sure exactly what they were thinking.

I did use some of the BP forms out of Brandon Turners The book on Property Management. It was a great read and the forms create a good system for managing tenants, and screening which is super important with covid. The lease I had my lawyer read over to double check things, I did it prior to closing and he didn't charge me for it. Either way, I've heard it's cheaper than having one drawn up. I also took a landlording class that was helpful in Albany. I know there are some in Buffalo, so there is probably something closer to you, it's worth signing up and waiting, I learned a lot there.

Would be a good idea to get estimates before closing that way you could ask for concessions or a price reduction if it's needed. 

Congrats on the mindset shift, that's huge progress! I'm living in one unit of a duplex I bought, my first home in 2020, an hour or so west of you. I don't know Oneonta that well, and with it being a smaller town it might be a good idea to look for broad advice on investing in college towns/cities. For agents and contractors I like the general advice to interview a bunch, pick the one you like best, and you can always change if you are looking for something different. Any lawyer can probably close a deal, but not everyone can work with tenant disputes and do an eviction. If you want to look for someone in that niche and start that relationship early the term to google is "landlord/tenant law." I wish I had done that even just to get someone specialized to look at my leases (especially with roommates paying rent as one like in college towns). I'm not quite sure where my banks jurisdiction is, but it's a small local bank and that's what I'd recommend, credit unions are always good to. My bank was Trustco, it says they have a branch in Cobleskill. I did 10.5% down as an owner occupant and didn't pay PMI. They are have specials on low closing costs now, though I know many banks are. I'm not sure what an investor loan would look like through them, but definitely let me know if you do follow up or find a local bank with good investor loan terms. Good luck!