What to do with my $$$?

[Enrique Rivera Jr]

My family and I recently had an apartment fire which started in our apartment in a Co-op building which we owned. Thankfully everyone was evacuated safely with no injuries. Now we pretty much lost everything and insurance paid up to $60K for our personal belongings and dwelling in the meantime while our apartment gets renovated by the buildings insurance company. Out of the $60K we currently have about $40K left over after paying for rent in another place where we staying in the meantime. Now my wife and I agreed after 9 years of living in the Co-op we should try listing it for sale after the renovations are completed I believe we can sell the Co-op for around $100K. My question is should I invest into a duplex and live in one unit and rent out the other? Or where should I invest the $$$ into? In total we would have $140K to invest in anything we want. Thanks in advance!

[Morris Cohen]

Without knowing more about you and where you live it’s hard to say, but I assume you’re in NYC since you own a co-op. If that’s the case, a 2-4 family is a great investment. That was how I got started in investing back in 2013 and after a few years experiencing being a landlord things began to snowball and I was able to grow my portfolio. I was able to cash out and buy another 3 unit as well as take on some out state projects. If you are in NYC, I would just advice you not to buy a place that has tenants in place. You need to properly vet them because if you make the wrong decision in NYC it is VERY tough to evict. If you have a tenant not paying rent that can create a financial hardship, so my advice would be 1) the more units preferably 4 units the better so if one tenant stops paying you have a couple of others ones still paying the rent while the situation gets resolved, 2) make sure to have a few months of payments in your accounts post-closing  and 3) make sure you understand that closing costs outside of Co-op in NYC are really expensive. Good luck!!