Hi everyone!

My name's Melida and I've been lurking on this site for months now and finally gained the courage to introduce myself. My husband and I are interested in investing in house hacking either in the Bronx, upstate NY or NJ. We're still figuring out which is best for us based on the cashflow. We're also thinking of taking out a FHA loan to purchase our first multifamily property (2 units-live in one of them). The goal is to purchase more units every year (2 units year one, 3 units or more the following year, etc.).

I have two questions: Does anyone have any general tips as to where would be the best place to invest in a rental property out of the 3 mentioned above? Also, do FHA loans cover there realtor's 6% commission. Since its way more than the 3.5% downpayment, I'm worried their commission is a lot higher than the downpayment.

Thank you and very grateful to be a part of this community!

Melida

Hi and welcome!!!

First off congratulations on joining us here in BP.  To answer some of your questions 

As for location that's a personal one, what's the most convenient location for you and your family. As an FHA borrower you will have to live in a unit; therefore it would have to be close to work/school etc etc.

When purchasing a property you the buyer will not pay realtor commission fees. Those fees are paid by the seller. If you are not working with a real estate agent please feel free to send me a message and I would love to assist you!! As far as other expenses you will incur besides down payment, there will be some closing costs associated with the purchase.  

Again, feel free to send me a message and we can chat some more!!!  

Good luck!!!

Hi Johann,

Thank you so much for your reply. I will send you a message shortly :-)

hi Melida. i currently own a 2 family in the bronx and also bought i using an FHA loan. i purchased a home that was being sold FSBO. he agreed to drop the price 15k off the bat since he was saving the agents comission. i just used an attorney provided by my employers pre paid legal benefit. no agents were used.

i am biased but i think the Fordham/Jerome area is a great area to invest. Jerome Ave rezoning was just approved a month ago or so and word has it the Kingsbridge Armory renovation is about to be approved as well. 2 familys are great bc the bronx still have relatively low prices compared to the rest of NYC but rents are still HIGH so if you have a rented unit....the monthly mortgage burden is not that bad. we bought our house for 390k 3 years ago and in total we needed about 17k cash from offer to closing. the vast majority of that was just the 3.5 down payment. i negotiated to have the seller pay our closing costs and again no real estate agents were used. 

best of luck in your search. 

@Antonio Martinez

Thank you so much for your advice. We’re trying to purchase for less than 300K for our first property because we want to make sure we can afford the vacancy costs. If we don’t purchase in the Bronx the first time, we will definitely want to purchase next. Would you mind if I reach out to you in the private messages? I’m curious about your experience renting.

Originally posted by @Mélida Maldonado-Pérez :

Antonio Martinez

Thank you so much for your advice. We’re trying to purchase for less than 300K for our first property because we want to make sure we can afford the vacancy costs. If we don’t purchase in the Bronx the first time, we will definitely want to purchase next. Would you mind if I reach out to you in the private messages? I’m curious about your experience renting.

you can...i basically just found a really responsible relative and convinced them to move into our upstairs apartment for the same rent they were paying at their old place. twice the size and much more beautiful. we figured it was best to charge less than market rent and have peace of mind with someone we knew to be responsible than to try to charge market rate and play russian roulette with tenants in the Bronx.