All Forum Posts by: Jason V.

Got back from this trip not too long ago and would definitely be interested in this area if anyone invests around here that would like to share experience. I have a suspicion most folks who own rentals in this area do it as a way to 'stay free' on their frequent trips to Disney, and that the numbers just aren't that great, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has experience. Thanks!

My wife and I are booking a trip for the family to Disney, and as usually happens when we rent a house somewhere, we start running the numbers on the property. 

Something along the lines of: Windsor Hills Villa

Mind you, we have 4 kids and are bringing my parents, a respite worker and her family, and might have some other folks stopping in, so we actually booked a 8 Bedroom house, but for the sake of discussion, the above link works. 

Anyone own and rent a place in the general vicinity of Disney that they wouldn't mind discussing/sharing their numbers on? I do the same type of analysis every time we go to the Adirondacks as well (if anyone has a lead on any properties for sale on Fourth Lake, let's talk!) and always come back to: my numbers must be off, or I'm doing the wrong type of investing. 

Thanks!

@J.R. Coffin - Thank you very much for the standard! That is very helpful, and I haven't seen this one before. 

Hey Gang - Been a while. 

I'm looking to convert two ground level units I have in a multi-family into fully wheelchair accessible units. Entryways are taken care of, but the space is really tight in one unit and I'm trying to figure out a layout that will actually work for someone with mobility issues. 

If someone has floorplans/layouts  (AutoCAD would be heroic) that they could share with me showing clearances, door sizes, etc. that would be fantastic. 

If anyone has a good reference guide (the NYS one is vague, and lacks detail, at least the one I have) that would be great as well.

Thanks all! 

Maybe it's your connections that allow things to work out, but when I've run the numbers on doing new construction as rentals, it's never worked out to something I wanted to put my money into. And that's with building a 4 unit building on land I already own outright (it was thrown in as a sweetener on another deal.) I don't invest in SFRs in this area at all, because they're just not worth the hassle to me. 

I'm not saying your numbers are wrong, or that it's a bad idea - but it's one I've explored and I've never been able to see how to make it work in the long term (which is all I care about.) I'm also not an expert in Henrietta, which you obviously know fairly well, so that could make a big difference as well. 

For the area, I know Henrietta is still doing very well, and all market indicators are good, so I expect new construction to continue out that way. Have you tracked the value of your lots at all? You might be able to hang onto those a while longer before selling them off to a different developer for a decent profit as an alternative to managing a couple of new construction projects and rental units. Then again, considering your profession, you could probably do it in your sleep!

Cheap is cheap for a reason. If I were going to be looking for another market to invest in (which I am) it wouldn't be anyplace with steadily declining population. New York has been in the Top 3 (typically in first place) for net population loss for the last 5 years - and that's despite an always large net increase in the NYC area. 

A lot of the folks I know who invest in the Northeast are looking for different markets while people from different markets look here. 

Ask the deeper question: why 100 doors? Looking for that magic $100/month/door X 100? I, personally, would rather make $10,000/month with 50 doors, or 25 doors than 100. 

If you can take your $60k and reinvest it in a market you have a competitive advantage in, you'll probably do a lot better than investing it in an area that is already heavily populated with investors who live in their market. 

What zip codes are the properties in? Before I could give a recommendation on anything else, I'd want to know that. (I'm on my phone and the formatting is weird, so excuse me if it's posted.)

Also - You're estimating property management at 5%, but I would put it closer to 13%. 10% base rate, plus upcharges for service calls and turnover.

Canandaigua area?  (Edit: Oops, my three-one-fiver is showing: he said water park and lake and I thought of Canandaigua and the spray park before Ontario and SeaBreeze.)

Yea, if your rent numbers are good (and I think they are) it doesn't need any work immediately, and you're not on the hook for any utilities, you've got a solid base hit with this one. Maybe better, considering the markets. 

I wouldn't worry too much about the guesstimated appreciation rates anywhere in Western NY. Don't plan on getting any, and be prepared for it not to keep pace with inflation long term. That's not really the type of investing we do here, in my opinion as a Wayne County investor anyway.

Good luck! It's all scary on the first one, but it gets easier every time.

 Ha, I wish our taxes were that low! The total property taxes on one of our SFRs assessed under $100k is just under $5k. 

And for the privilege of paying some of the highest property tax rates in the country (we had 5 or 7 counties in the top 10 in the USA, last I checked) we have some of the worst schools in the state, no new 'real' businesses, deteriorating roads, and receive no services (garbage, recycling, etc.) in return.  

Oh, and we haven't seen double-digit temperatures in a week or two now, unless they started with a minus sign. Gotta love New York. 

And yet....people still choose to live here, just like they choose to live in areas like Seattle and San Francisco. Here we deal with all of the above hassles, and we complain about it, but we still buy houses here. Seattle and San Francisco deal with ridiculous, absurd, ludicrous (seriously, it's just stupid in those areas) home prices, and not getting to deduct the full amount of the property taxes on a house assessed at over $750k will just be one more thing for people in those areas to complain about. 

All that said - I would be pretty shocked if the changes to the tax code involving property tax deductions were primary driving force behind a significant price change in any of those areas. More than likely, I would expect to see the effects of the tax changes offset by increased consumer confidence and some actual real wage growth. 

Thanks again for everyone's kind words and recommendations!

@Lumi Ispas - Good picks, thank you! It's been a while since I listened to Earl Nightingale - once upon a time a friend gave me that recording on CD, and I think I'm going to listen to it during my commute and skip a couple of podcasts for a while. 

@Mike Dymski - Thanks for confirming my suspicion on Cardone. I always try to keep an open mind, but that's a tough one for me. And I'm not so much looking for a book to motivate me as a book to help me jumpstart my own motivation again. It's never been a problem for me, up until the last couple of months, and I'm struggling to figure out why. 

@Merv Screeton - It's worse than that: I not only have everything I need, I also have just about everything I want too! I'm either a little weird, extremely fortunate, or (more likely) both, in the respect that material things don't really mean much to me, and both my wife and I have been financially successful at this point in our lives. My personal/professional/financial drive has always come from a combination of being the type of person who needs to be constantly challenged, and a 'Parable of the Talents' type of thinking. If I'm not working hard towards a goal I feel like I'm wasting the gifts I have been given, and tend to get bored and do stupid or self-destructive things (like sit on the couch eating ice cream and brownies while watching 'Top 10 Movies That....' videos on YouTube.)

Thanks again everyone, your time and input are appreciated!