Buying My First Condo in NYC on a $96K Salary – Advice Needed

[Kevin Dzikowski]

Hey everyone,
I’m starting a full-time job in NYC soon with an all-in comp of $96K (base + bonus). I’ve always been interested in building a small personal real estate portfolio and have been thinking about purchasing a condo as my first step.

The idea would be to live in it for at least a year, then eventually rent it out. I'm just not sure how realistic that is with my income and whether it's the smartest move right now considering HOA fees, interest rates, and NYC prices.

If you were in my position—early in your career but eager to get started—how would you approach this? Would you buy now, wait, or look outside the city for a better first investment?

Open to any and all thoughts—really appreciate the insight.

[Shawn Mcenteer]

Hi @Kevin Dzikowski i see you have this posted in the house hacking section so my guess is you are planning to rent out rooms.  Not a bad idea, this can be very enticing especially when reading the house hacking books and listening to podcast on topic.  Single family/ 1 unit strategy tends to work well in other parts of the country.  In NY it can be very tough especially with the wacky laws always changing in the city.  

What's stopping you from starting out with a small multi family property?  Not only inmost cases will the number work out more favorably but you may find the laws work more so in your favor.  Also it worth mentioning, buying multiple properties with low money down loan is much easier when going down in unit size ie triplex to duplex or duplex to single family.  Its very tough to go up in units using low money down.