All Forum Posts by: Dacia Ray

A real estate agent I work with told me recently that Trustco Bank is actively looking to do loans right now, though not sure if that's just residential or also commercial loans. The loan officer to reach out to is Christopher Van Loan (ridiculous but actually his name) in the Kingston branch.

Yep, using we is good, and telling someone where you'll be, what time you'll check in when you're done, and what to do if you don't check in and don't answer. As far as apps go, try http://www.circleof6app.com/ - designed by a friend of mine, really useful and quick to use.

Owner pays all utilities / no separate utility meters

@Jared Adamson Why are you making a website for your vacation rental? I have considered this too (bought a domain, buying domains is a disease I swear), but ultimately my listing on AirBnB generates all the bookings I need. I like the idea of having a website for it but seems like too much extra marketing work. But I'm curious about the benefits others think it brings to the business.

@Neil P. I think condos are really risky for AirBnB. Condos usually have condo associations and boards, and they make/enforce/change the rules. Often they prefer owner occupancy and have rules that don't permit short or longterm subletting. Skirting or breaking the rules can get you fined and/or stuck with a property that you own but can't legally rent. Also there are condo association fees that can have assessments added on at any given time. But this really depends on the condo association. I have a coop (different legal structure but a lot of similarities too) that when I bought it permitted subletting and they changed the rule this year, which has screwed up finances for a lot of folks that own units in the building.

I run a 2 bedroom cabin in the Catskills area of New York (2.5 hours from NYC) as an AirBnB property, so my market is a bit different than yours. That said, I think it's important to run numbers on an Airbnb property with the minimum viable number of days rented. For me that's weekends - about 8 days a month, 2 person occupancy. In the 1.5 years I've had the property, I've always had it rented for many more days, but I ran the initial numbers based on that minimum occupancy and I know it cash flows based on that, but in reality is a much better money maker. Startup costs for furnishings are important to keep in mind like a previous poster mentioned. And you also have to account for utilities (wifi is a must) in a way you wouldn't with a year round rental. Assume that vacationers will generally be kinder to a property than someone with a longer lease, but also that they'll crank the AC and leave the lights on.

A few numbers missing from your calculations that you should consider adding in: -Heat (is it oil, propane, electric?) - who pays for this? It can be a significant expense in upstate New York winters -Landscaping including mowing and snow removal -capital expenditures - if you plan to buy and hold eventually you'll need to replace the roof, water heater, etc. best to put aside a little every month -property management - if you self manage this will just be part of your cash flow, but as you grow your business or if you hate managing you may need to outsource. Plan for this now so it is an option on the feature

I vote for buying your primary residence in the city and waiting on the rentals for a few years. Though counting on appreciation is speculation most places, it really isn't in NYC. So if you plan on being in the house 10+ years, buying a primary residence in NYC is an investment. You could even do a refi and get cash out for investments and add that to the cash you'll be able to put aside over the next few years. I bought a 2 bedroom coop in Windsor Terrace five years ago and and looking at a similar strategy, since it's appreciated in value so much.

Welcome to BP, @Russell Pinkall! There's a lot to learn and a lot of different ways to learn it. I grew up in Orange County and now live in Ulster County after many years in NYC. I own a vacation rental in Ulster County and I'm learning all I can as I prepare to move into investing in and self-managing multifamily houses. In addition to the podcast, blogs, and forums, I found the BP books to be super helpful and easy to digest: http://biggerpockets.com/books and there's also a free intro video course that has a lot of the same material as the Book on Rental Property Investing: https://www.biggerpockets.com/courses/a-beginners-introduction-to-real-estate-investing

It could be either a coop or a condo - in a coop you own shares in the buildings corporation that entitle you to occupy a specific unit, in a condo you own the physical space. they'll have either maintenance fees or HOA fees as an additional expense, and these can go up whenever the board voted on them. But the biggest barrier for an investor is that many coops and condos have an owner occupancy requirement or really strict rules about owner occupancy (like you can sublet a max of 2 out of every 5 years and other nonsense).