All Forum Posts by: Amanda Gisonni Kittredge

I started my own direct mail marketing company. Still doing real estate though! 

There are a lot of ways to develop leads as a real estate agent. It is important also to stay top of mind with your network and even past clients. You can use direct mail, email campaigns, social media, in person events, networking, attending local investor meetups and more. You can use direct mail to send thank you notes, holiday cards, birthday cards and more to past and present clients. Personalization will help you stand out among other realtors only using one touch point with their clients.

If you have a PO Box you can use that as the return address otherwise I use my own address. It looks more legitimate and less like junk mail when you do that. Props to you for getting started, good luck and just know with direct mail you have to keep up with it and be consistent.

Hi Ben, great question. I am in the process of putting in a basement apartment in my home and going through the process the legal way (i.e. getting a CO and permits). I would talk to your lawyer and your insurance agent to get their advice. Before I decided to finish my basement I had a candid conversation with my insurance provider about the ramifications of illegally and legally completing the project. I would assume that it would be okay if you are living down there but your insurance agent / lawyer should be able to give you better direction. Another thing you could do is see what the process would be to get it legalized by talking to the building department of your city without giving them the address and see if it would be easy/make sense.

Amanda Gisonni, Licensed Real Estate Agent in NY ((10401335254)

@Matthew Kresky This is great! I bought my house hack a year ago and am in the process of putting in a basement apartment. The goal is to move elsewhere and convert it to a full time buy and hold in the future.

Why did you ultimately decide to move out and rent it out? Did you find another property to house hack?

Amanda Gisonni, Licensed Real Estate Agent in NY ((10401335254)

Hi @Peter Buccowich, I bought a SF last year to house hack and although I am turning the basement into an apartment, I am also renting two of the upstairs bedrooms to roommates.

Before moving forward with a single family I would evaluate two things. First, I would make sure renting by the room is legal in your area. Second, I would run the numbers on the house as a house hack and as a full time rental without you living there. In the future you will more than likely not be living in the house and will want to be able to rent it out and potentially not rent it out by the room. If the numbers work as a SF rental then that is good. If it doesn't then it probably isn't a smart choice. Currently, I am not cash flowing by renting by the room because I live in the house however, if I were to rent out the whole house then I would cash flow. It definitely depends on your goals and what you are trying to achieve but if you are able to reduce your cost of living by house hacking a SF and then cash flow in the future by renting out the house then I would think it is worthwhile to buy a SF.

In terms of having no connections, I wouldn't worry about that necessarily when it comes to finding roommates/tenants. A good way to find roommates/tenants is by listing on Zillow or Facebook marketplace. You will not only need to vet the individuals from a financial perspective and background check perspective but also from a roommate perspective. You need to find people that you can live with. Honestly, sometimes it is better to live with strangers and friends. I know a lot of people who were friends who moved in together and now no longer speak after moving out. In my SF house we have a friend who lives with us and someone we found on Zillow and it works out really well. Make sure to meet the person and ask them the awkward/hard questions like cleanliness habits, noise preferences, etc before accepting them. You can also do month to month leases so that if it doesn't work out you are not stuck with someone who isn't a great roommate for a long period of time. Also, when selecting the house make sure it has enough bathrooms, for instance 3 people to 1 bathroom can be a lot.

Amanda Gisonni, Licensed Real Estate Agent in NY ((10401335254)

Hi everyone, I am curious if anyone has had experience getting a form of a HELOC on an investment property? If so, was there a specific bank that you used? I called about 4 local banks yesterday and so far it is a no go. Cash out Refi is not an option because I initially purchased this property as owner occupied so I was able to get a really low interest rate, refinancing would result in a higher interest rate and I would not cash flow. I have equity in my property and I would love to get it out to invest in another property. Any thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated!

Amanda Gisonni, Licensed Real Estate Agent in NY (10401335254)

I am located south of the capital region in the mid-Hudson Valley area and there are not a lot of duplexes in my area. I opted for a SF to house hack because the numbers worked better with and without me living here. If you opt for a SF you definitely need to really think about whether or not you can live with others and rent by the room. It is not easy living with roommates and carefully vetting them will be extremely important. You could also rent out the rooms on a short term basis to nurses through furnished finder or on airbnb. We are planning to stay in our home for more than two years and are renovating our basement to turn it into a studio apartment. This will enable us to no longer have roommates upstairs and have more of a duplex feel. If you can find a duplex great, if not you are only planning to live there for a short period of time. Most importantly make sure your numbers work with and without you living there! 

Amanda Gisonni, Licensed Real Estate Agent in NY (10401335254)

Hi Kristen, Welcome to Bigger Pockets! House Hacking is a great way to get started. I wish that is how I started but a house hack was actually my third deal. The town that I am located in also does not have a lot of multi-families and the ones that were for sale were too expensive for the numbers to work. You definitely will want to make sure renting by the room is allowed in your jurisdiction. I also would analyze the numbers to ensure that they will work even if you are not living in the house should you want to move out in the future and rent to a family like you mentioned. Good luck!

I have a room I am advertising for rent and so far I've posted on Roommates.com, roomies.com, roomster, the roomi app, some local FB groups, and Furnished Finder. I've had success with roommates.com in the past. So far I've gotten the most promising responses on the roomi app and roomies.

Amanda Gisonni, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson in New York State

I am actually thinking about posting on Zillow/Trulia and Realtor.com (through Cozy) next. I think that will get the most traffic compared to these other sites.