All Forum Posts by: Stephen Massinello

It is more like a zestimate…they only look at the outside of the property. If the interior needs work, this benefits you. If you’ve added higher quality and condition finishes, that won’t show a boost to value.

@Stephen Massinello

You absolutely should not begin this project without an attorney. You'll need advice on entity choice (ex, LLC vs partnership vs corp), & will need agreements drawn up to handle contingencies such as the ones mentioned by @Drew Sygit along with others.

If you're holding it for rental, you'll need a good lease, don't try to wing it, the fee you pay your attorney is a relatively small investment that will pay off.  This is true even when one of the investors rent the place as a tenant.

You'll also need an experienced insurance agent to help make sure you have proper coverage.  There are a lot of contingencies that don't normally happen, but if they do, can be disastrous without proper insurance.  

Don't forget a good CPA either, if you don't already have one.

@Kelly Calamia

@Xander Weidenbaum

Thanks for your interest, we are still working on the logistics and plan to have something ready for mid to late May. Will update this forum once we have something on the calendar.

Welcome! Well, personally I wouldn’t invest in either LI or the Poconos. LI is obviously way to expensive and the taxes are ridiculous. (I was born in BayShore), currently have family in the Port Jefferson area. 
Poconos is to iffy for me. I’m only 30 mins away and my wife is from there and is strongly against us investing there.  Lots of high taxes, lots of HOAs, and I’ve found the market to be very up and down. Take a look at the Lehigh Valley area rather than the Poconos. It’s very tough to find anything these days, but over all it’s better here. 

Hi Stephen

You mention private money & hard money, but don't say whether you went to a mortgage banker or broker for a conventional pre-approval. I would think for a 1st time investor buying a SFR it would be the first choice.

Upstate NY offers better pricing than downstate.  Have you thought about Saratoga?  The month of August brings high rents due to the races.  Although they take more time, short term rentals tend to bring in higher rents, which help build up case for the next purchase.

@Stephen Massinello  A few thoughts that might help you land a deal.

Try talking to a local realtor and see how their clients are funding their purchases, maybe a local bank.

I suspect that this area will have higher than usual seller financing so that lack of lenders might turn out to be more a a feature rather than a bug.

If the sellers have existing mortgages ask if they will sell subject to.  If you have not listened yet there is a great bigger pockets podcast that was "Bigger Pockets / Show Pace" that is the best podcast I have heard yet on buying with seller financing and subject to.