All Forum Posts by: Mohammed Rahman

Hey @Serge Roux - congrats on a successful exit and starting your journey to graduate into bigger deals. 

I'm in a similar boat, but a few years behind. Currently saving up to purchase my first multi family - whereabouts are you two looking?

Haven't had too much luck with networking events from BP (most of the time they're small events hosted by vendors in order to build their database - nothing wrong with that but the conversations aren't fruitful). I recommend going through EventBrite and finding the largest NYC meetup hosted by a user called Nick Tang (If I remember correctly). There are a few events every couple of months in different boroughs and it always draws a size-able crowd of other investors, lenders, etc. 

Give me a shout and DM me if you want to connect, would be great to sync, thanks. 

Hey @Miquel Julia! 

Have you already obtained a social security number? You will absolutely need this in order to start building up your credit history. The good thing about a program like FHA is that their credit requirements are lower than a conventional bank loan.

Once you have your SSN, I recommend applying for a secured credit card to begin building up your credit history. When you move, if you plan on buying a car you can finance either all or part of it so that the on-time payments will reflect on your credit history too. 

For what it's worth, I haven't had much luck posting messages in the forums asking for an investor to partner up since investors typically will want to see a working history or internal referral before partnering with someone -- your experience could be different, but I recommend networking as a priority before seeking investors. 

Good luck! 

Hey @Raquelle S. - thanks for explanation, how good is your relationship with your brother? Looking at it from an outside investor, I wonder if other investors would be excited to tie up their money in an existing property with someone they haven't worked with before. 

The reason I ask how good your relationship is because you may be able to work out a solution wherein you assume his mortgage and pay him monthly payments to earn the equity he has built into the property -- this may or may not work depending on how you want to structure it. 

You're in a good spot since it's your brother that owns the majority of the remaining equity, so you could likely figure out something creative with him on it. I would recommend something along the lines of partial purchase every year or so to: (1) help with your own cash flow and (2) so he doesn't have to pay a lump sum capital gains tax on his portion. 

Just thinking outside the box, I'm sure there are other solutions available too. You could try a hard money lender too, but I don't recommend it for this particular scenario. 

Hey @Raquelle S. - seems like there's a lot of potential to make a solid profit or revenue stream for you. 

Is this property located in NYC or LI? If so, I would take a look at the regulations around ADUs - although I'm not super familiar with them, I know there are some fairly strict laws around this after interacting with a client who was going down this route too. 

I'm sorry but I'm also not understanding the question you're asking, to clarify, are you wanting to buy out your brother's share of this property? Or is it the both of you own a piece of it, along with other external investors?

Some clarity would help both me and the rest of us in the forums, thank you! 

Hi @Amber Toussaint - I have experience with section 8 tenants in one of my duplexes. 

I recommend reaching out to the relevant housing authority that you're receiving the payments from - there should be an assigned case manager for the property who will review all requests and increases, etc. 

I tried to increase rent a couple of years ago, but because the unit was already occupied, the case manager said any increases will have to be paid for by the tenant... who wasn't able to afford it. Instead I came to an agreement with the tenant to handle all the lawncare/snow-removal/etc. for the property and increased rent for the other non-section 8 tenants (since they no longer had to be responsible for those). 

In my experience, my interactions with my local authority (Buffalo/Niagara) has left me wanting a lot more. I had to escalate the situation to the case manager's supervisor because of lack of clear communication and backwards logic when sending emails.

Send me a DM, I'm happy to chat offline about it further. 

Hey @Zwee Dao - I can't recall the exact post, but someone else in the NJ forums purchased a property with SROs and was wondering how to operate it since they're technically illegal in most parts of NJ (I believe). 

I'm out of my wheelhouse here but know someone who can help - @Shawn Mcenteer is your guy. 

Hey @Meng Lin - first time I've heard of this. Generally, the RE industry is behind the curve when it comes to tech advancements and crypto. 

Inbound leads asking if they can pay with USDT is pretty strange, is there anyone else in your office that's running into the same issue? You might want to flag it for whoever is responsible for lead generation as these are likely scam/spam leads. 

Someone getting offended when being asked for proof of funds is also a red flag - you're going to buy a large ticket item... being asked for proof of funds is the norm (along with a preapproval letter if they're financing). 

Hey @Kate Szeto - sorry to hear about your experience with your PM. Have you tried speaking with them about this? 

If this PM is also your broker, then I'm guessing you already have a working relationship with them and it may just be that the PM is projecting their standards/perspectives onto your property (e.g. you might be ok with not needing the appliances replaced, whereas your PM might have replaced the appliances if it was her investment property). The lines between opinions and job responsibilities get blurred whenever a landlord doesn't draw the line clearly.  

Ultimately the PM works for you and you're managing them as their boss. If an employee doesn't perform well it's one of 2 reasons: (1) They don't know what's expected of them (most of the time this is the case and it's the boss's responsibility) or (2) they just don't care. 

I doubt it's #2 since you've used this PM as a broker before as well, so it may be time for you to have frank conversation with the PM about what your goals/expectations are. 

I couldn't have said it better than @Mike D'Arrigo - @Michael Cavitolo, you're in the right headspace, but as you'll come to learn you won't get 100% of what you're wanting as a first time buyer. You have to decide which facets you're ok with compromising on. Whether that's location, size, MF or SF, etc. is up to both you and your spouse. 

My recommendation is to possibly broaden your search parameter to a bit further from the city. If you're set on finding a MF, a budget of $600k will be tough unless you're really sacrificing on location. 

Alternatively, don't discount the possibility of a SF with possible rental income in the form of a basement room, or separate room rental -- again, it depends on what both of you are ok with compromising on. You may also want to consider a condo/co-op that has lax rental restrictions so you can buy and rent out within a year or two. 

Of course, you could also just wait until the pension kicks in and boosts your purchasing power :) 

Hey @Daniel Moreno - my perspective is your best bet would be a modestly priced multifamily property in either Queens or Brooklyn. It depends on where you need to be while traveling to the city, but both of those boroughs have an easy public transport connection to Manhattan. 

I recommend these areas in Queens for decently priced multifamilies (2-3 units) that you can rent out partially or fully depending on which route you go: Elmont, Richmond Hill, Jamaica (north, not South). 

Shoot me a DM if you'd like to connect, I have friends that study in Boston and have been back and forth a few times - I'm also an agent & investor, happy to directly help or at least point you in the right direction.