Yes, its basically a tax.

Commercial financing scares me but if I used the HELCO funds I could basically pay cash for it and then just pay off the HELCO instead of dealing with a commercial loan that will be due in 5 years.

@Michael Breedlove  As you are an owner occupant, you may be able to get a home equity loan, but I would not expect a very high appraisal given your recent purchase and they are typically conservative drive-by appraisals (so your interior work will not be considered). 

However, I have not used co-signers before and was curious in what cases other experienced landlords would allow this.So basically the question is: do you use a co-signer as a replacement for bad credit, or only as an extra safety net in cases where the credit is marginal and you aren’t 100% confident in the tenants ability to pay rent on their own but you “think” they “should” be able to?

@Ashish Acharya ok, so basically how I imagined it should work in the first place.

@Nick JonesYou are not land locked to NYC prices, there is no rule you need to invest in your backyard.Don’t get me wrong it’s convenient to be able to drive to your property but not a most.

Just know your basics and what you can and can’t do legally and your good.

I guess you would need some one to crawl up on the roof and make sure its OK.. but basically I have not seen more bullet proof rentals that all those row houses I have been funding in Philly and BALT... much much easier that 4 walls and larger roofs et. 

Location is the biggest driving factor. 

The two properties are almost twins with basically the same layout size and such.