All Forum Posts by: William Glass

@Alvin Sylvain Exactly! Unless Elon Musk colonizes Mars sometime soon, they aren't making any more land. 

@Savannah Lewison Are you planning on doing an FHA loan?

The down payment seems low to me if this is an investment property that you are not house hacking. If you are house hacking, I would imagine you wouldn't need to set aside 11% for property management. 

@Natalie Hahn Welcome to BP! 

I think the first thing you should do is determine what it is your parents want. Do they want a steady income from rentals? Are they tired of dealing with properties and just want to cash out? 

As others mentioned they have options, but the first step is to determine what they want out of their real estate investments. That will then help you decide what route to take with each property.

Good luck!

@Sam B. What a cool story and sounds like you learned a lot! Thanks for sharing!

@Jonathan Dempsey I bought a duplex on an FHA loan for $185k in 2017. One side was rented for $825/month and the side I lived, which was delivered vacant, had previously been rented for $700/month. But the tenant moved out within 3 weeks of me purchasing the property.

I immediately got it rented for $1200/month with only doing a deep cleaning. I had a roommate that paid $300/month. In total $1,500/month and my mortgage with PMI, insurance, and taxes was $1,178/month. Netting $322/month in cash flow.

When i moved out I was able to lease out the side I was living in for $1,250/month.  In total the property grossed $2,450/month. Since then I moved rents up to $2,590/month but with the rental market softening and having a tenant move out early that'll drop to $2,475/month here shortly.

Overall it was a great decision and the numbers worked well after I moved out!

@Adam Rudolph The key thing is real estate isn't a fad or specialty investment. It's not "a wave" it's the ocean... 

My point is real estate isn't going anywhere and you haven't missed out. As everyone else has said the key is creating and finding deals.

Hi Mark, I just moved up to NYC (Queens) back in October of last year so unfortunately not much help. In this situation, it may be worth getting some advice from a real estate attorney. This may be pretty normal for new developments in Brooklyn, but a few hundred bucks to have an attorney on your side seems like it may be worth it. 

Search for Eury Vargas on BP. He messaged me yesterday and his company works with new construction in Brooklyn so he may be a resource for some general sense. 

I've walked away from signed contracts before when a seller and agent were wanting to change things on the purchase agreement without putting it in writing. The risk wasn't worth it. I'd get a real estate attorney to help you sort through it.

Hammering out what returns my network of possible investors expect. I haven't seriously moved forward despite having a general idea of lending rates/products from various lenders and a general idea of the current state of the market.

@Tanh Truong That's awesome! Last year I flew out too early on Sunday out of Des Moines so missed all of the events Saturday night & Sunday. I'm excited to have more time this year. 

What are you most looking forward to?

@Joe Tillman I moved up to Queens in October of 2018 and have been looking at properties in Brooklyn and Queens. The key that everyone has hit on is appreciation play vs. cash flow. As long as you are okay with an appreciation play then the Brownstone could be the right path. 

The other piece is that the market in the city has cooled off for the most part and there is a lot of rental inventory on the market. I'd drill into the nuances of Bed Stuy and as long as it makes sense with your overarching goals then go for it. 

Happy to connect sometime in the city as well.