All Forum Posts by: Sarah Hooff

@Joe Aiola You are the best! @Andres Restrepo and I spoke and he is well on his way. :) I love all my clients who come to me via BP... it's so important to support productive value-added investment in Newburgh. 

@Joe Aiola Thank you so much, and sorry we didn't nab you this time! 
Newburgh has seen incredible grow over the past few years and it continues to be an exciting place to live and invest. 

@Davere Currie There is another Newburgh investing thread that you should check out... it's a long saga of a thread, but has some good perspectives and a few good arguments too! 

I got you John! Whatever works. 

@John Hickey Hot thread up in here y'all. I'm a real estate broker in Newburgh, NY, so I'm mostly going to stay in my own sales lane doing my job and making passive money managing my own portfolio of investments in Newburgh. I'm more of a "slow roll" personality, so that's why John and I can work together. ;))

Side note, I think what this is mostly about is "experts" who diss on certain places, people, opportunities in a self-interested way. "Town XYZ is a bad place but I have this great deal I can sell you in ABC". It's just tacky behavior. Most people know how to spot trash and/or deal with it when they see it, and if you don't then that's part of the learning curve in any business. Godspeed!

John called me in to vouch for his investments. For sure, among others, he bough a suuuper crazy building, known as "the building" locally, and he definitely helped form positive relationships on the block that have made it more open to those who are coming after (tons of owner-occupants buying and renovating on the block doing gut renovations of really charming brick townhomes). I don't endorse his methods, and that's fine. I get from point A to point B in my own way, which has more of a "kumbaya, but don't f*ck with me" flavor.
I live a few blocks away in the City of Newburgh, so I get a lot of points for just being everywhere walking around and people get to know how I move. Corner ******** have understood loudly that I show up with respect and I don't get cat-called in my neighborhood. I've gone toe-to-toe with my neighbors and that's fine. I don't have any problems walking down any block in Newburgh with my kid. You shape the world around you to give you the respect you want.

Ultimately, the influx of owner-occupants into a economically depressed area (by way of increased local home ownership or, when not possible, renovation of vacant buildings) is the ultimate driver of "sticky" change. Would home ownership be feasible on that block where John bought if "the building" was still an out of control rooming house? I would say it would be a *big* lift for someone without John's astronomical personality coming before them to help organize a community watch in the way he did.

Side-side note on where Hickey and I hustle: To the haters and snake-oil salespeople dissing on Newburgh in particular, I can show you a portfolio of 18-20% CAP buildings that tell me differently, and a million instances of cool local happenings that make it a place where I'm super happy to live and raise kids. (Wasn't easy-- when I bought my house, there were 8 other occupied apartments on the two blocks on either side of me and *that's it*. Everything other building was vacant.) Now we have murals on the side of my house and West Point professors buying the townhomes next to me for literally 50 times more than I paid for my property just a few years ago. And there is still *so much* space for cool investors and homeowners coming in. It's a fun place to be working.

Stay classy BP!

@Jared W Smith Come through Newburgh! 

@Daniel Lynch Yikes this feed! Everyone has their opinion. Here's some favorite advice that's I've received and like on the topic. 
#1 If you know you can't go all the way in life with someone, dump them kindly but immediately. Time you spend with the wrong person is time wasted with the right person. 

Real estate, especially in a developing market, can be such an incredible hustle. Rewards are big but I can't take anything for granted until it shows up consistently in my bank account from a 100% passive (or damn close) source. If you know you love real estate (or another entrepreneurial path) and are on the way UP, be careful about choosing team members. My husband is a trooper in our real estate business, and we have both gone without in crazy (CRAZY!) ways to make it through tight loopholes. People can't be "trained" (WTactualF was that comment?), but people do make decisions about their priorities in life (which is totally fine!). Having someone take care of you is a tricky mindset for making money (i.e. it doesn't really work.)  

#2 Suze Orman has spoken on the topic a ton. Her take = split in proportion to each person's income. This is a fair and flexible plan that takes into account the changes that happen within a partnership over time, and which includes a healthy dose of care and empathy along with fiscal responsibility. 

#3 And as an aside, really, you should be paying YOURSELF rent, and you should give yourself a lease in writing, especially but not exclusively if the property is held in an LLC.
It will help you bank money for your next investment, keep your books on this investment flush, and make it easier to use this property to buy more real estate in the future. If you see this as a true stepping stone house hack property, you can't "freeload" either. ;))
Live by your own example first, see if your GF shares your vision of growth, and it will all be clear from there. 

@Eric Hrlbock Good question... purchase price sure isn't everything! My house needed maybe 20k of work when I bought it for 7k. It was vacant and the roof was leaking with some subsequent water damage, but besides that it was just ugly, not broken. The hair salon on the first floor was totally intact, including supplies the owner just left... we didn't buy shampoo for two years. ;) 
I choose to put in more because it was going to be my personal home. I'm now moving out and onto the next project because my family grew, but I clear between $1600-1800 in airbnb short term rental income from a smartly designed 700 sq ft studio apartment on the upper floor. I'll keep the downstairs storefront as my RE office. Not bad. 
Also ended up buying the two properties next door with a partner. These bad boys needed more work, even though they were tenanted. Still, with renovation over this year, I'm looking at a 18% cap rate on one and a 20% cap on the other. Rent roll on three residential and one commercial units went from $3495/mo to $4725/mo in one year, and an art gallery is moving in.  Looots of elbow grease, don't get me wrong. It's not an easy investment area, and I learned a ton about dealing with people in the process. 100% sure it made me a better person with more wrinkles. Newburgh is all about project development, not just straight investment.

@John Hickey oh my goodness, yes. 

I bought my 2-unit house on Liberty Street for 7k in 2016.... 

Appraising in the 200ks now. The market will go up and down like everywhere else, but I feel like I've made my fair share of good deals in Newburgh, and acquired some good neighbors, clients, and friends in the process. 

Thanks for the recommendation, @John Hickey! 

@David Lant & @J.R. Coffin!
See, I'm not the only one who likes this place. 

We are going to get you both pumping in Newburgh. The City tends to reward competence, ballsy-ness, and vision, which you both seems to have in reserve.