All Forum Posts by: Allyssa Compton

Hi @Joseph Alvarado nice to meet you! I am also here in Rockland and also live in Haverstraw! I think it is the most underrated community in Rockland and firmly believe we will see a boom in Haverstraw in the next decade or so. I'd love to hear more about your investment goals and if you have anything currently. I'm always excited to meet other investors in my area. Welcome to BP :)

@Darren Sager Very excited for this and to meet all of you!

@Moshe H. thanks for the shout out!!

Hi @Nicholas Napoli! Very nice to meet you. I work throughout the Hudson Valley and would love to chat about your investment goals. I'll send you a personal message and we can connect!

Hi @Daniel Johnson

This may seem like a dumb questions, but is your plan to send the mail to the property itself? Are you currently subscribed to a list that provides the owner information or are you just looking up tax records?

For me, I'm always about a value-add beyond "let me sell your house." Owners may not be interested in market reports, but how about market rental rates? I know that in my market, most self-managed rentals are vastly under market rent and owners will appreciate and trust this information. If they are able to add a few hundred dollars to their bottom line because of your report, you just became a valuable person in their mind. And if they do decide to list in a few months, they will be calling you. 

Just a thought!

Hi @Marc Maser welcome to BP!

Seems like you will have a lot of insight to provide so please jump on the forums as often as you can :)

Best of luck!

Hi Jeffrey,

I would love to hear more about what you were able to do on your previous project! Sounds like it was definitely a success story. 

Hi @Riquelmy S.

I'm really glad you have such a positive attitude when it comes to this. You will be surprised how much that alone will get you.

I actually just had a sit-down with someone in that exact position - deciding between paying down loans and starting to invest. I will share with you the same thought I shared with them: If you can afford to get started with real estate and still make the payments you need to on your loans, I would suggest doing it. I'm not a financial adviser by any means, and my views are obviously a bit biased, but I always have felt that the sooner you can get yourself invested in something that will appreciate, the better. House hacking is such a great option for people looking to pay down loans because it can essentially eliminate your largest monthly expense, allowing you to pay off your loans that much faster. 

In terms of learning more about Rockland, I would be happy to help. I am actually evaluating a deal on a 4-plex in Haverstraw right now and live in Garnerville so please feel free to PM me. You can also send me an email or give me a call, if that works better for you. I'm always happy to help in whatever way I can!

Hi @Jared Romaine

I typically never recommend a 1 year lease; I always recommend month-to-month as it gives much greater control to the landlord if there is a problem. And to answer your question - yes, the buyer would just need to know that it is already rented. 

In many cases, this will open you up to a wave of investor buyers who will appreciate that it is already rented. Once they purchase the property, they can restructure the lease once it is up, if they choose to. 

@Jared Romaine That's great! It's always helpful as an investor to have an many agents in your pocket as possible. If they're your parents, even better!

Best of luck to you and keep us on BP updated! We'd love to hear how it turns out for you. 

Hi @Jared Romaine 

I ran a quick CMA for your area so that I can hopefully help you with this decision! I'd be happy to send it over to you as well so that you can see what I'm looking at. (I am assuming the house is in Walden!)

First and foremost, I think your numbers may be off just slightly which will definitely impact your bottom line. In the Walden area, the average actual rental (what the tenant actually ended up paying) for a 3 bedroom is $1200-1300 which is quite a bit lower than what you were thinking. Now, there are obviously a number of factors and I don't have access to even close to all the information, so if you know that it would go for $1700, go with that! But I also think you may have a more difficult time renting that you anticipate. The average time on the market for rentals in your area was 44 days. So that's a vacancy rate closer to 8%. Again, you may have more information specific to your market that I don't, so if you know this to be untrue, go with what you know!

As a Realtor, I would suggest you list it for rent and for sale simultaneously and see what happens. If the house sits on the market for months and months before selling, you will be glad you had someone in there in the meantime to bring you in a little bit of cash. 

As an investor, though, I would suggest you examine your goals for the long-term and evaluate the house as if it were something you were thinking of buying. If your goal is to learn as much as possible with a low barrier to entry, this could be a great opportunity for you. And, at the end of the day if you have negative cash flow, you can always view it as owning a second home for only $X per month. If your goal, on the other hand, is to get a certain dollar amount per unit, you may be better off selling and putting that money towards a deal that gives you a better return. 

I hope this helps! Please feel free to reach out to me if you need anything. I primarily work in Rockland County but would be happy to help with the research side or refer you to an investor-friendly agent in Orange.