Options in NYC to invest in real estate as a beginner?

Real Estate Agent · Flushing, NY · Member since 2017 · 1 post · 0 votes

I'm am a fresh of the boat real estate investor with no deals under my belt. I live in NYC and I want to know what type of real estate technique are viable in NYC or surrounding areas to make money. Does wholesaling work? Do fix and flips work? Do lease option deals work?

Again I am a new aspiring real estate investor so I'm sorry if this seems like a stupid question.

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Amit Kal

Investor · Sunnyside, Queens, NY · Member since 2015 · 213 posts · 159 votes

Hello Altus. I'm from NYC as well. How deep are your pockets? As you can obviously tell, it's incredibly capital intensive to invest here. When I started out 13 years ago to by my primary residence, I looked at 100's of places in and around Western Queens (including tons of coops in Jackson Heights) before I finally bought a place. After paying that off in eight years, I started looking again but the market was crazy and then crashed so I sat on the sidelines, saving and kept looking for several years before finally pulling the trigger on a six-family building in Sunnyside - I put $300k down, and used a cash out refinance on two other properties for the other $550k. So now I effectively had this building free and clear. Then the real work began. Over two years I invested another $250k to upgrade 4/6 apartments and increased NOI by 64%. That's my story and how I did it.

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Dave VisayaPro Member
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Audio Engineer and Investor · Cebu City, Cebu · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 881 votes
9y
Hey @Altus Szawlowski welcome to BiggerPockets! It's great to have you!
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Mark Nolan
Professional · Carlsbad, CA · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 1k+ votes
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@Altus Szawlowski
Welcome to Bigger Pockets. The Bigger Pockets book store if full of great books: https://www.biggerpockets.com/store
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Christian Costa
Real Estate Agent · Jackson Heights, NY · Member since 2015 · 54 posts · 12 votes
9y
Welcome as a fellow NYCer a lot of cap rates are slim unless you're doing development (building from scratch) but then thats a whole circus on its own. But glad to see another NYC interested in RE investing.
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John Hickey
Rental Property Investor · Chappaqua, NY · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 947 votes
9y
Altus Szawlowski there are a million ways to spend your money. I think the best way to make money in real estate is to be an investor. Meaning you own the real estate. With 15k you have to look at what it's possible for you to buy and then add some value. I would look into coop investing. Find one that doesn't have restrictive financing like 30% down. Also look into the rental provisions. You don't want to be stuck with something you can't rent out. You want to do FHA so you have a bit of money left over for paint and refinishing the kitchens and baths. I would look for units that have been held for 40-50 years and have carpet covering hardwood. Look to refuel baths, refinish flooring, paint, refinish or replace cabs add granite new appliances etc. make sure your buying at 65% of Arv with repair built into that price. Hold for a year and do another one.
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Amit Kal
Investor · Sunnyside, Queens, NY · Member since 2015 · 213 posts · 159 votes
9y
Hello Altus. I'm from NYC as well. How deep are your pockets? As you can obviously tell, it's incredibly capital intensive to invest here. When I started out 13 years ago to by my primary residence, I looked at 100's of places in and around Western Queens (including tons of coops in Jackson Heights) before I finally bought a place. After paying that off in eight years, I started looking again but the market was crazy and then crashed so I sat on the sidelines, saving and kept looking for several years before finally pulling the trigger on a six-family building in Sunnyside - I put $300k down, and used a cash out refinance on two other properties for the other $550k. So now I effectively had this building free and clear. Then the real work began. Over two years I invested another $250k to upgrade 4/6 apartments and increased NOI by 64%. That's my story and how I did it.
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