All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Sherman

Hi all, I'm still new to all this and have lot of questions. I'm wondering about buying an investment property in NYC, mostly as an investment but also because I used to live there and am still quite attached and visit often. I'm sorry I sold my apartment when I left and never would have if I'd known about BP! 

Anyway, now I'm curious about buying another apartment there to use as an Airbnb and also as a place to stay when I visit. I'm wondering if this is possible, especially the Airbnb from far away since clearly I'd need a company to manage that. 

Thoughts?

just finishing on Proschools and I have nothing to compare it to but I think it's awful.  Lots of typos, questions in the quizzes on sections I haven't taken yet, etc. I wouldn't use them again.

Thanks @Monika Haebich! I will contact them and get some more info.

@Thomas S. thanks for your response! I'm not in the position to buy a second home if it wasn't also an investment, that's why I was asking. To just buy a vacation home to use is not in the cards right now, but if I could somehow wrap it up in a decent investment, then I could justify it. But if not, I'll just wait until I can afford it as just a vacation home.

@Daniel Smith thank you! That's helpful, I didn't know about those rules.

@Chris Parrish thank you! I didn't think of that but it makes sense. There are two houses we rent frequently (one in Cape Meares and one in Manzanita) and they do seem to get run down faster than I would expect!

@Neal Collins I agree! We had time shares growing up and this is so much more appealing.

Hi all, 

I am still very new to this and in the education/information gathering phase. I'm wondering if it's ever a good investment to buy a second home/vacation home? My family and I have a favorite town on the Oregon coast. What I'm imagining is buying a home there that we can stay in several times a year and renting it through Airbnb and/or VRBO when we aren't using it. I'm wondering how we would work up the numbers to find out how much we could spend, and how to find out what percentage of the time it would be occupied. This wouldn't be for the sole purpose of investing/wealth-building, but the combined purpose of investing in real estate while also having a place to enjoy. Give it to me straight! If this is just a bad choice investment-wise I'll keep renting.

I'm glad you asked this situation because I'm in a similar situation too but got very different answers on my thread! I own a home in Cully that I owe 190k on but should be worth 335k. When I asked on another thread if I should use a cash-out refi to turn my garage into an ADU (the quotes I'm getting for the attached garage is around 60k), the responses I got were to take that money and invest into a multi-family residence instead. Maybe they were less familiar with the popularity of ADUs in PDX?

Hi @Account Closed! 

I am in Portland too. I would be tempted to keep it since you owe so little relative to the prices here, though I am curious to see what more seasoned investors say. Do you own the other property free and clear, or is there a mortgage on that as well?

I would be tempted to keep it because of where the markets and rent are going.

Thanks in advance for the help and patience as I navigate this new world.

I own a home in Portland OR, that I've lived in for 10 years. I owe 190 on it and it's worth around 335. Thanks to Portlamd's generous laws around ADUs, we could add a unit to our property to generate rental income. I've gotten a couple quotes from contractors and it seems like it would come out right around 60k, which we'd finance with a cash-out refi. What do you think? Would this be a good use of that money? When we move out we could rent both units (this is legal here too). It seems like a good way to house-hack without moving out. 

My biggest concern is that the cash out is all we have, and my plan is to use it to start investing whether it's in this or buying another property, so I want to make sure this is the wisest use of the money. Ultimately I'd like to buy and hold but I think in this market I may start with a flip.

Thoughts?

Hi @Jessica Vollendorf! I'm in Portlamd too. The apartment is beautiful! I did a quick Craigslist search and it does seem like it may be priced more than the average studio, with studios going for 895-1200. It seems like most go for around $1095. I'm not an expert and this was a quick search, but just a thought! I live not too far from there (in the 50s at Fremont) and rent for my 3 bed/2bath house would be 1600-1800).

The second thought is, what about using property management software like Cozy? I haven't used it myself but know investors that like it because you can ask those first questions that David Galan suggested, then use Cozy to screen them.