All Forum Posts by: Alex Furini

Darrick,

Plenty of Houses are built on grade without basements. There is no requirement for a basement to be included in a house be it single family or multifamily.

You can build a Small knee wall to conceal the side of the range and provide a visual termination point for the kitchen. Its not a code violation, its just not an elegant solution to a small kitchen. 

Welcome David,

Bigger Pockets is a great resource for learning and meeting others. Explore around and add to the knowledge base. Always great to network.

Best of Luck

I did a lot of research on online rent collection/ free "management" sites a number of years back. I narrowed it down to two sites. 1. Cozy and 2. TenantCloud. I ended up going with tenantcloud as the features were what I needed for the way I run my investment properties. I have been using Tenantcloud for about 3 years now and I couldent be happier. Rent collection is possible through 3 different ways, but I only utilize the TC payments(through Dwolla). This used to be free in the beginning, but now costs me $9 a month for unlimited transfers. A $9 a month fee to make my life easier is well worth it. I use tenantcloud to keep all my leases, maintenance requests, apartment info and photos and tenant communications organized in one place. There is the option to refund security deposits and you can decide if you wish to receive partial payments on rent or not. (this was a big one for me as well)

They are continuously improving it. Highly recommend the site. 

Sadiya,

House Hacking is a great way to get into investing. Ive done it and a lot of people on BP have done it as well. 

Regarding buying a single family and converting it to multifamily, not all properties can be converted into multi family due to Building Code, Zoning and ADA reasons. Before you put your money down, hire an architect such as myself to do a feasibility study. You want to make sure you understand the implications of converting as well as any unforeseen consequences that may arise.  As with any big decision, measure twice cut once.

-Reposting here as I responded to the same post on a different thread-

Everyones posts here are spot on.

Heloc's are great for down payments on properties. In my opinion they are one of the only sources of "borrowed" funds that a bank will allow on a mortgage application without having to jump through lots of hoops. I have personally done this for a property in Brooklyn.

That being said most banks do not offer Heloc's on Investment Properties. Rather they would need to be on an owner occupied property. You would need to do some research (Ive seen a thread on BP discussing which banks offer these type).

I personally did not want to do a cash out Refi, as I planned on paying off the Heloc Downpayment funds much faster than the 30 year refi note. However, a refi CAN have a set interest rate, while a Heloc will most likely have a variable rate. Which FYI, is currently going up. It really depends on what your plans for the future are. Do you you like the security of a fixed payment each month or do you like the freedom of having essentially a large credit card to use for purchases.

Best of Luck,

Jonathan,

Heloc's are great for down payments on properties. In my opinion they are one of the only sources of "borrowed" funds that a bank will allow on a mortgage application without having to jump through lots of hoops. I have personally done this for a property in Brooklyn. 

That being said most banks do not offer Heloc's on Investment Properties. Rather they would need to be on an owner occupied property. You would need to do some research (Ive seen a thread on BP discussing which banks offer these type). 

I personally did not want to do a cash out Refi, as I planned on paying off the Heloc Downpayment funds much faster than the 30 year refi note. However, a refi CAN have a set interest rate, while a Heloc will most likely have a variable rate. Which FYI, is currently going up. It really depends on what your plans for the future are. Do you you like the security of a fixed payment each month or do you like the freedom of having essentially a large credit card to use for purchases.

Best of Luck,

The 2 family conversion. I am glad to see one that worked out. Ive worked on a few of these projects over the years and spoken with even more potential clients who hoped to convert, but were unable to realize their project. There is a magic line which exists between 2 and 3 family properties in regards to code, zoning and ADA compliance. In order to cross it, you must comply with many regulations which a 2 family is not required to. 

Congrats on completing a successful project. Its always great to hear a success story.

Not to jump onto this thread too late, but I have had success doing a similar approach albeit with multifamily properties in NYC. Unfortunately I dont own any condos, and that may well be where the line is drawn. The bank I used for my last 2 family purchase allowed me to use a percentage of the rental income of the new vacant property. This was based upon the appraisal market rent. Somewhere around 50% or more if I remember correctly. That being said this was an investment property, not a owner occupied meaning the rates are slightly higher and you are required to put down at least 25%. 

Hi Mike, 

Its always great to network, grow connections and see how others approach the same issues.

There is a monthly meetup in Manhattan which myself and others will be attending. Check out the "New York Real Estate Investors morning Meeting" event for more details.