The floors are not level - I mean it's slanted from a shift in the foundation.  

The house is incredible from an architectural perspective and it's not too far off from what I would design myself as our dream home.

I'm hoping for some insight on an idea for getting started in NYC. I'm largely basing this off of what a friend of mine did while at University (bought a run-down, but livable house with a group of friends for $75,000...

I know it's hard to switch gears and change strategies when the market shifts, but I wouldn't expect to find any solid "pennies on the dollar" opportunities on the MLS in the near future - it's just a different world now (for the time being, at least).I think you're probably on the right track with pursuing direct mail (whether you wanted to go for land, or your original type of multi family property).

By maintaining relationships with similar investors in my market, I believe I will be able to gain better perspective on the market and potentially buy/sell properties to the other over time (especially if they are an older investor).I lived very close to Germantown for 5 years, it is definitely block-by-block as to which areas are nicer and which are rough.

@Senad SalihovicIf you can afford to do so from a tax perspective, it will be best to make Roth 401k contributions.

.* Yes, I know the cost of equity is higher than the cost of debt from a financial analysis perspective, but equity doesn't have a cost on the P&L.

But look at it from the other guy's perspective.

At least that's my perspective...  

From a rental cash flow perspective, however, it seems like less of a slam dunk.