All Forum Posts by: Syed H.

Exactly. People always forget that liquidity disappears in a downmarket. HMLs are gone, Banks are gone, LOCs are diminished; etc etc. People also seem to forget that even though you should buy when there's blood on the streets, few people have the guts to invest at that time. Everyone is waiting for the bottom. Most REIs didn't buy a single thing between 2008-2011. 

For Class B+, Brand new. Go get some scratch and dents for a reasonable price if you can find them. 

You sound new at this...

it doesn’t matter if you have electric or gas heat, you will pay for it one way or another. My gas units get much higher rent than my electric units. You can sometimes find an idiot to take a electric heated u it for a premium, but after 1 winter they will move.

Every turnover costs you money. Nyc has very low vacancy, but that doesn’t mean vacancy doesn’t cost you $ and time. Most nyc apartments supply heat, you will be at a disadvantage vs other listings. 

I love when I provide heat, it costs me $700/unit to provide gas heating, I charge almost a $80-$100/month premium for those units. You can do the math. 
 

Local landlord here. That sounds very expensive depending on the area. Feel free to reach out if you want advice. 

The main issue with this is finding enough property. You are being the bank and the flipper at the same time. Banks make their money off of volume. Unless you can attain a large enough scale of deals, it probably isn't worth it. You can already go become the first position bridge lender and get paid 8-11% with no headache of finding deals; etc.

This is how every PM makes money. The 7-10% of rent you pay is just the beginning. The fees/upcharges on maintenance, leasing; etc, is how they stay in business. & Honestly, you couldn't pay me just $55/month/unit to manage someone's property. Just not worth it. 

That being said, if you only have a few units, self-managing these days is simple. Hardest part is finding 2-3 good handymen in the area and building a system that works for you. 

Darker color Granite. Lasts forever & isn't that much more expensive if you are doing volume. Also (at least in my markets) granite = higher rents. 

Like I mentioned, everyone's experience is different. I have some great people who refinish my hardwood floors for cheaper than LVP. That might also be because I'm also a flipper and use them very often. 

LVP has been around for awhile. Sure the new product lines are newer (and much better quality), but I've seen plenty of issue with them. 

My point is just that there's no 1 answer, nothing is bulletproof from my experience. There is just the right answer for that specific scenario. & the only thing that will save any flooring, is good tenants. 

Just speaking from my experience of rentals for 10 years. Everyones experience is different. Ive found every flooring option has negatives. We can agree to disagree.

Hardwood is easily refinished for relatively cheap & can survive a lot. I've seen plenty of LVP separate and have other issues (even the expensive stuff). I've never found any LVP "Virtually indestructible", the issues don't come up after 1 turn, usually 2nd or 3rd.

Carpet is dirt cheap and now one minds carpet in the bedrooms. Rents in Class C/D is the exact same for carpet in the bedrooms/upstairs vs wood. For $1.25/SF it'll last me 4-7 years usually.  I'm ok with that cost. & if its stained and I can't get it out, ill take it out of their deposit. Their deposit can probably cover the cost of carpet, it probably can't cover the cost of LVP. Also, carpet also goes down quickly and can minimize down time. It can also be put on floors with uneven subfloors, you can't with LVP. 

They all suck, just in different ways. A bad tenant can ruin any realistic option.

For class A/B rentals, go with tile and hardwood. 
For Class C/D, whatever is cheapest and looks good. Laminate/lvp is fine. Carpet upstairs is fine.