From my research, Manhattan is definitely not an option but other boroughs like Queens, Bronx might be.

Upstate NY definitely caught a piece of the short term rental boom-- plenty of Manhattan-ers buy vacation homes up there, or book out Airbnbs in the summers for months at a time.

I'm sitting in Manhattan and cant wait to get back to the cool of Florida!!  

I ended up in Jersey City, NJ (10 minutes from the Holland tunnel to Manhattan).

I've looked for a bit but not too in-depth but I know properties out here are ridiculously expensive.I don't mind going to the surrounding areas (NJ or NY state) but I would like it to be accessible to manhattan via Train and a drivable distance.my question is, does anyone have any experience with buying properties in NJ, upstate, Long Island, even maybe eastern PA (big maybe). looking for a good ROI and somewhere not too far from the Boroughs.

@Crystiann Perez De Leon | you should consider meet up group tomorrow evening. its official, over 12k members, in manhattan at residence inn 6:30.

The only thing I could think of that made a difference was the location because all of my other cabins are either in PF or not far outside it. 

Depending on the location, types of buildings, and overall condition, you may be better off holding onto them long-term (after the renovations) or getting rid of them before renovations.Some parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens are seeing huge spikes in vacancies as folks move West to New Jersey, North to Westchester and East to Long Island and South to the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. 

One of the BP Podcast guests had an interesting way pf approaching rent raises. 

STR rules and laws are also lenient there , it's 20 miles from downtown LA, it's a coastal town, not to far from Redondo, Manhattan Beach and Marina del Rey.