We plan to take out a wall and add an island to open the kitchen up, take the carpet out of the bathrooms, replace most of the flooring, finish the 4th bedroom and the rest of the basement, and various other minor updates.

We can get a second home without putting anything down (VA loan), move into the school district we want and a much nicer home for our growing family:Current home (want to rent this out):One of the largest lots in the area 1/100 lots in an area with 1000's of properties that has navigable water which is our water, at 2.75%, 280k remaining $1650/month, rents $3000 mom will be lending 25k over 5 years at $500/mo payments, and we will use a property manager $300/mo = rental take home of $550/mo incomenew home (hypothetical estimates):$550k @ 7%, paying ~$3300/moWe will have a period of 9 months starting Dec 2024 where we would be at about -$100 where our older daughter goes to pre-k for $1150/mo and infant is in daycare for $1650/mo.

I have a meetup in Niceville each month, @Arianne L. has a meetup in FWB each month, and @Matt Robinson has a REIA called the Professional Investor's Guild that meets monthly on Okaloosa Island.   

I was the real estate manager for Georgia for the largest AirBnB arbitrage company in the world before becoming a real estate agent here in Atlanta specializing in furnished rentals.

Again..it was not a "need" but rather a loan for a renovate and flip auction property (On Whidbey Island Washington where we lived then).

Here's info on Huntsville:Now Alabama’s largest city, Huntsville’s military (Redstone Arsenal), space (NASA), telecommunications (ADTRAN, AT&T), biotechnology (Hudson Alpha), diversified manufacturing (Toyota/Mazda, Polaris) and a variety of emerging specialties provide challenging work (#5 Best Places for Career Opportunities) in delightful surroundings (#3 Best Places to Live in the US).

I host one of the largest real estate meetups in Worcester MA.

Adelson is something like #22 of the world's richest people or maybe richest in USA, just bought some big plots to probably build one of the worlds largest casinos....interesting as we don't allow casino gaming yet. 

HHI is a great place to capitalize on golf tourism. 24 golf courses on the 12-mile Island.

Have been studying and searching for deals in other markets.Prices are too high in Long Island to start investing on our first deal.Does anyone have any experience investing in markets near NYC?