Hi All,I'm a super noob at this, first post.

Newer homes (on expensive land) may have less than 50% expenses, but because they're also likely to have a lower Rental Return Ratio, they may still be difficult to show positive cash flow, if 75% leveraged.Whereas cheaper/older homes in non-appreciating markets, or condos/apartments in high property tax/HOA areas, can have a HIGHER than 50% expenses per month, but may still cash flow positively because of a super-attractive Rent Return Ratio.Somewhere in the "middle" of those extremes, the 50% Rule can be quite accurate!

Although I just moved to Long Island myself a few months ago, so I'm not super familiar with all areas yet and would love any input on these locations, or any others for that matter.

I'm super excited to begin my real estate journey!

Have A Super Sparkly Day!

@Kevin Lefeuvre - I would argue that one of the biggest misconceptions about Short Term Rentals is that they need to be in some super hot vacation destination.

"At first, the idea of a company getting me 0% interest loans was SUPER sketch.

I'm keeping my eye out for any good deals there, but everything is super expensive!  

The boston area seems super saturated with condos going for crazy prices again...I have alot of friends that are the young business type 8-10 years out of college paying the rediculous rents to live in the city...Im hoping once those types start to settle down and have families they will move to the outter parts of boston and create a strong single family housing market...let me know your thoughts...Anyways, thanks for the informative post!

Poor upkeep could be just a super tight landlord who knows that they have a property in a high demand area and they do not have to do anything to rent out.