No the rates are not on par with conventional when you figure in additional costs and pre-payment penalties. 

I’d like to increase my cash flow and one thought is selling them on a wrap.My current P&I payment is $280/month with 25 years left on my mortgage.If I do a wrap at 30 years, 7% the P&I payment would be around 980, giving me $700/month of cash flow and no other costs.Sounds simple, but the devil is in the details.

Before being approached to help with the development costs, I had considered on buying after the development was complete; 4 lots then having 4 homes built, selling 2 and keeping the other two to rent out.

I'm wondering if the insurance costs are hiking up the expenses.

Realistically, if rents can't keep up with costs over the longer term, fewer people will buy rentals and there will be fewer options for those who can't afford to or choose not to own a home.

NYC went through a severe decline in finances, population loss, greatly increased Crome, etc in the period from 1960 - 1982.  

This sure keeps turn over costs low and at bay.

This is a great time to look into the New York multi family market.Brooklyn has seen the highest percentage increase in inventory (74%) compared to other NYC metro area counties since last year (source: oneKey MLS). 

@Lily Rodriguez your profile says you're a real estate broker, if that's the case I'm shocked that you post on Zillow and not on the MLS for 2 reasons, one according to the association  rules you're required to list all your properties on the MLS (assuming you joined a association) second Zillow is not our friend, Zillow competes with us and tries to push clients to their Premier agents costing the listing agent half a month rent.Quote from @Lily Rodriguez: Marcus,If you want more exposure you can list it on the MLS, and you will have to pay a fee to the agent that brings you the tenant then you will have to do a credit check and background check yourself for each applicant however for my clients I prefer to list it on Zillow rentals only, because I can manage the applications directly from there and the prospective tenant only pays $35 application fee once and can apply for different properties with the same application fee.

I've seen a lot of conflicting advice that cautions to avoid areas with high crime rates due to complications and extra costs from the tenant base and property crime.I understand that both cities have shown crime rate improvements, but their overall rates are still way above average.What makes these cities attractive for investment despite this?