All Forum Posts by: Mohammed Rahman

When you reach out, just think of it like you're connecting with another human, not pitching some crazy deal. Keep it casual but clear. Be upfront about what you have — like “Hey, I have a property under contract, seeing if you know any investors who’d be interested.” You don’t need to sound like a 20-year real estate vet. You just need to sound like you know your side of the deal.

Confidence isn’t about using big words — it’s just about being direct and not over-explaining. If you don’t know something yet, no big deal. Just say, “I’ll check and get back to you.” People actually respect that way more than you trying to make something up.

And honestly? You’re already doing better than 90% of people because you’re actually out there taking action. Feeling nervous means you’re pushing yourself. That’s a good thing. Just keep going. The words and the confidence will catch up as you get more reps in.

You want me to also tell you a couple of quick things to focus on learning next so you feel way more solid next time?

Hey Anthony, sounds like you guys are sitting on a great opportunity — and I get why you definitely don’t want to touch that 3.25% rate in this environment. Totally makes sense.

Here's the deal: you're right — you don't want to refinance if you can avoid it. Rates today would probably be double that, and it would kill your cash flow. What you're looking for is either a HELOC (home equity line of credit) or a home equity loan against the property, without touching the main mortgage.

Quick breakdown:

• HELOC acts like a credit card against your property. You can pull money as needed, only pay interest on what you use. Good flexibility if you're planning project-by-project investments.

• Home equity loan is more like a second mortgage — lump sum, fixed payments. Good if you know exactly how much you need and you’re ready to put it to work right away.

Some banks will do investment property HELOCs, but it’s a little trickier in NYC, especially on multi-families. Rates will obviously be higher than your first mortgage, but it can still make a lot of sense if the deal you’re investing in has solid returns.

Another option: business lines of credit. Since you run your own architecture firm, you might be able to secure a business credit line based partly on your firm’s financials and the fact that you have real estate assets. Sometimes it’s easier (and cheaper) to tap business financing than personal property debt, depending on the situation.

In short — yes, you can access that equity without refinancing the 3.25%. You’ll just need to shop for lenders that do investment property HELOCs or second position loans, and maybe also talk to a business banker while you’re at it.

Hey, welcome to the game! Honestly, you're asking the right question — picking the right market is everything.

Since you're based in NYC, you already live in one of the biggest real estate hubs, but it’s also crazy competitive and expensive, so it’s smart to also look at other markets too.

When you're figuring out where to invest, you want to focus on a few basics: population growth, job growth, affordability, and rental demand. If a city’s population and jobs are growing, that usually pushes both property values and rents up over time — that's appreciation and cash flow working together.

Some ways to start:

• Look at Census data or even just Google "[City Name] population growth rate."

• Check out job growth — sites like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or just see if new companies are moving into an area (tech hubs, Amazon warehouses, stuff like that).

• Research average home prices vs. average rents. You want the rents to cover your mortgage and then some. Rule of thumb is the 1% Rule (monthly rent = 1% of purchase price), though that’s rare in NYC itself.

• Look for cities where you see a lot of new development but it’s still affordable — not fully priced in yet.

• Read real estate blogs, podcasts (BiggerPockets is great for this), local news articles about development projects, infrastructure plans (like new subways, airports, factories).

Since you’re in NYC, you might also want to look just outside too. Some New York investors are buying in places like upstate NY (Syracuse, Rochester), Pennsylvania (Philly suburbs, Allentown), parts of New Jersey (Newark has gotten a lot of attention), and even farther like the Southeast (Charlotte, Raleigh, Jacksonville) where it’s still growing fast.

Biggest tip: Pick one or two markets and go deep. Learn everything about them — rents, property taxes, neighborhoods, tenant laws — before you ever buy.

Yeah, unfortunately, it does happen more often than you'd think, especially in NYC where you’ve got a lot of long-term tenants living alone.

When someone passes away inside the unit, NYPD will usually seal the door with an official sticker and tape after they do their investigation. If there's no next of kin immediately available to handle it, you (as the landlord) can’t just cut the seal and go in — that’s a crime (tampering with a police investigation). You have to go through a legal process.

What typically happens next is you need to petition the Surrogate's Court for what's called "administration" of the deceased tenant's estate. If no family steps up, you (or your attorney) can request to be appointed as the public administrator or have a public administrator assigned. This allows you to eventually gain lawful access to the apartment, inventory and store/remove their belongings, and ultimately re-rent the unit. It’s a court process though, and it can take months — sometimes 6-12 months if there are complications.

In the meantime, you can’t lease it, clean it out, or even really enter unless there’s an emergency (like a flood or something threatening the building's safety), and even then you’re supposed to contact the authorities first.

If the deceased was rent-stabilized, it can get even more complicated because sometimes distant relatives try to claim succession rights. So you want to document everything carefully, and it's smart to have a real estate attorney who’s dealt with this stuff before.

Sounds like you're on the right track. A 5-20 unit building in Brooklyn (especially Flatbush and Crown Heights) can definitely be a solid play if you buy right. Those neighborhoods have strong rental demand, a mix of long-term tenants and new arrivals, and you can still find properties with decent upside — especially if you're willing to do some value-add work (updating units, improving management, etc.).

A few things to keep in mind though if you're 1031 exchanging into Brooklyn:
Taxes and maintenance costs are no joke here, and a lot of the older buildings come with hidden repairs or rent-stabilized tenants that could cap your upside if you’re not careful. You’ll want to double check the DHCR rent roll if it’s a rent-stabilized property. Also, lending can get tricky for 5+ units — commercial loan terms vary a lot more than residential. Some local banks like Flushing Bank, Signature (before it went down), and smaller community lenders tend to be friendlier toward these types of deals compared to the big guys.

There are deals on MLS but honestly a lot of the better 5-20 unit stuff still trades off-market or through brokers that have direct relationships with owners. If you want, I can also give you a quick breakdown of what cap rates are generally looking like in Flatbush/Crown Heights right now so you have a reference point.

You planning to self-manage or hire a management company once you close?

You're thinking exactly along the right lines. Here's the simple breakdown:

If the house is listed "cash only," it usually means it’s in rough shape — bad enough that a regular bank won’t touch it with a mortgage. So yeah, you can definitely use a hard money loan to buy it first. Hard money lenders don’t care as much about the condition of the property; they care more about the deal making sense (like how much it's worth after repairs).

Then, once you fix it up, you can refinance it into a conventional loan — that's called a "cash-out refinance" or just a "refi to permanent financing." A lot of investors do this — it's basically a mini BRRRR strategy (Buy, Rehab, Rent/Refi, Repeat). Even if you're not renting it, the process is similar.

Now, about your second idea — having the rehab/conventional loan in place upfront — there are rehab loans like the FHA 203k loan or Fannie Mae's HomeStyle loan. Those let you borrow the money to buy the house and fix it up in one shot. BUT: those are still conventional products and the house usually has to be livable (no broken heating, no major structural damage, no missing kitchens, that kind of thing). If the place is too far gone, lenders won't approve it even with a rehab loan.

Summary:
Hard money first → fix it → conventional loan later is the most realistic path if it's truly beat up.
Trying to do a rehab/conventional loan first could work if the house isn't that bad — but you’ll only know after a tour and talking with a lender.

Honestly, you're thinking about this the right way. In wholesaling, adjusting your assignment fee a little to get the deal closed is very common — especially when you're this close. Most experienced wholesalers will tell you: some money now beats chasing bigger money later that might never come. You're already doing the hard work getting both sides to the table, and it sounds like you've put in serious effort juggling between the seller and the buyer.

If you can gently remind the seller about the 60 days on market and the price cut (without making her defensive), that's smart — it plants the seed that she needs to act now or risk losing even more leverage. Even if she won't budge a ton, you have a real buyer at $260K. You could close it, take a smaller but real assignment fee, and build momentum for the next one.

The pros who last in this game don't die on the hill for an extra few grand — they keep the machine moving. One good deal leads to the next because it builds relationships and reputation.

I'd say trust your gut here. Lock it up, get paid, and reload for the next. A win is a win.

Wholesale got way more competitive. Sellers are smarter, and some places now make you get a license.

Part-time? It’s possible, but don’t expect big numbers. One or two deals a year if you stay focused.

Tools you should check out: Batch Leads (for leads), Launch Control (for texting), REsimpli (for CRM), and Propstream (for comps).

Keep it tight, don’t overcomplicate it.

You thinking local or virtual?

Hey, welcome to the real estate world! You're asking a really good and important question early on, which is awesome.

So when it comes to average home value versus median sold price, here's the simple way to look at it: the average can get really thrown off by super expensive homes or really cheap ones. If a $10 million house sells in a neighborhood where most houses are $300K, the average number gets dragged way up and doesn’t really show the “normal” situation. That’s why most investors and analysts prefer to use the median — because it shows the middle point. Half the homes sell for more, half sell for less. It gives a cleaner, more accurate picture of what’s typical.

Now, how you use them: Median sold price is better when you're trying to understand the general affordability of an area or if you're comparing it to incomes, rents, or cost of living. It's great for spotting trends too — like if the median is climbing fast, you know prices are heating up. The average can still be helpful if you're in a luxury market or if you're specifically targeting very high-end properties, but for 90% of regular investing strategies (BRRRR, flips, rentals), median is the move.

When you’re doing your market analysis, I’d recommend mostly weighing the median price — but still glancing at the average just to catch if the market has weird pricing swings or outliers. Helps you catch weird patterns early.

Are you thinking about doing your first deal locally or out of state?

Welcome!

Queens is a great place to start, wishing the best for you!

Feel free to reach out for advice or strategy.