All Forum Posts by: Vaughn Smith

@Emily Ellis You can absolutely wholesale in NY & NYC as of this writing. New York State as a market is a monolith the tactics buyers and deal velocity foreach area is very different as are the investment strategies in each area. Tread lightly there as NY/NYC is a market for seasoned investors so you need to be able to see some of the schemes the buyers (and agents) will try to pull on you early on (too many to list). Great news is when you get a deal there the spread is usually solid, bad news is many of the traditional marketing tactics don't work very well (at least in NYC where you cant cold call, PPC & PPL is really expensive and I don't know anyone who does well with direct mail).

@Adam Eckhoff section 8 always sounds a lot easier than it is. The headaches you get from a bad section 8 tenant can outweigh the benefits by a long shot. AC is very depressed so it has all of the challenges of any depressed area but in really large doses. If you buy a turnkey property you have very little chance to force appreciation  so you have to wait and pray for values to increase (not good).

When you run your numbers in AC remember to leave wiggle room for flood insurance most of AC needs it and increase your turn over budget for when tenants move out. 

I would side with your wife on this one, I typically tell people to stay out of AC, Trenton and Camden or any D area especially if you're new those properties are very labor intensive 

Facebook groups are the worst. Here's a quick way to find a cash buyer. Call agents in the area that are listing a renovated house, or call agents who represented a cash buyer on a fixer upper. Pitch your deal and see if their client might be interested. This is a high volume strategy as agents often don't pick up the phone, don't get back to you or say they will pitch the deal but don't. I did this when I was new it helped me to get deals sold @Matthew Mancini

true people search is pretty solid and its free. Not a bad choice if you're searching for a small group of people

$20k may cover closing costs but you'll need a lot more money to buy a rental. Invest that $20k in learning a skill that will multiply those funds or JV with someone

If you can wait you may want to do so, educate yourself a bit, save up the capital and put yourself in a better position. buying properties as investments with low money down isn't usually a great strategy especially now were you won't be certain when you can refi

@Noyessie Hubert Make sure you over analyzed the deal. Two things you should worry about. Buying with 5% down you have no equity and you'll be paying down interest for the first few years of the loan which doesn't put you in a good position. Also Irvington is going to increase your taxes significantly after the Reno call the tax assessor and see what the potential increase will be, it's usually ridiculous. As for vacating the units get with a good attorney, but its Irvington so a letter from your attorney may not be enough to get them to leave.

@Rich Solano Need to lock those up at deeper discounts shoot for 30% minimum remember market values are still inflated in many cases, if you only buy with a 10% discount and we get a strong market correction you'll be in a tough spot. Also remember with condos cashflow can be a moving target a special assessment can come along and constrict your cashflow without notice

Wholesalers here is my buy box:

Morris County, Passaic County, West Essex County

Fix and flip: 

3 bed 1 bath under 3k square feet

Moderate to heavy rehab

No double yellow lined streets 

Areas with strong school district  

No areas with high crime 

No septic/cesspool

Buy & Hold:

10-50 units or portfolio

No mixed use

Value add properties only

No areas with high crime

No septic/cesspool

**If you have a deal that meets this criteria and you're direct to seller please DM me. Please no on market deals unless they are deeply discounted. If you need help Dispoing a deal or figuring it out I can assist with that too as I have a license and know how to handle novations

@Chris Baist You got some sound advice here from @Jonathan Greene I wouldn't try to find an investment to fit a small budget. I would take that money and do one of a few things with it:

1-Look for a JV partner to do a larger deal with

2-Keep learning about the market and investing as a whole and sit on the money until you have enough education to leverage it

3-Use the money to set up your real estate business and buy leads & marketing betting on yourself may be the best of the options

Also tread lightly around the leave NJ advice places like OH, Baltimore, even parts of South Jersey can be money pits where ripping off out of towers is a cottage industry.