All Forum Posts by: Donald DiBuono

Quote from @Michael Wallimann:

Welcome @Souhimbou Kone! As a fellow Capital District native (Schenectady/Albany) and upstate investor I am glad to see you are in the right place. Bigger Pockets is an amazing community with infinite wisdom, advice and answers. Feel free to reach out anytime if you have any thoughts or questions about investing in Albany and further north. There are a couple rock star brokers, agents and lenders in my circle there. Best of luck to you in all of your future endeavors!!

 Hey Michael,

I am a fellow upstate NY (Capital Region) Investor. Do you know of any good wholesalers in the area?

Thanks!

Quote from @Jaron Walling:

@Donald DiBuono That's great man! It's very helpful and opens the door to more questions. 

How are you valuing the property you bought for $150K? From my experience a $10K rehab budget is pretty slim... not questioning your numbers but it's slim. A new roof for a SFH is easily $8-12K depending on the size and slope. We blew through $16K in 30 days remodeling our current property and ended up at $25K. If you bought well below market then kudos to you! MTR is appealing and that's a good idea if the location justifies it.

Going from SF to a $1M apartment is a massive jump. REI is a long journey not a sprint.

 We did buy at a steep discount. It was off market. Just needed a clean out & paint. We have done a few flips and have some duplexes. I feel confident in the management of the new building, just worried we are over levered.

Quote from @Jaron Walling:

@Donald DiBuono We need actual numbers to understand how much leverage you're using. If you and your partner didn't force any appreciation on the primary residences you could be over leveraged like @Nick Belsky was hinting at. It's just robbing Peter to pay Paul. In my opinion in a round about way (HELOC) you're just spreading the love and thinning your equity. It's strategy no doubt but it's risky for newer investors..

I'm in the same boat and none of my properties cash-flow at full 75% LTV. I don't think it's been mentioned but these higher rates are killing most BRRRR deals. We're about to finance out of our current SFH remodel. We won't get all our money back out, and will end up around 65-70% LTV (BRRRR'ish). It's the only way to cash-flow right now and retain equity for future growth. We're trying to lever less at this time. Something to think about before pulling as much cash as possible.

I can give you real numbers. We are collectively using 150k. We both bought our primary homes and rehabbed them. Instead of selling, we took the equity out. We purchased the SFH for 150k. We will spend ~10k in rehab costs and it should appraise for 210k. This will allow us to take out our 150k investment. We plan to STR / MTR the property as it came fully furnished. We will then use the 150k new loan on the SFH to partner on a 990k 9 unit building. We will be responsible for 50% of the down payment. Does this help?

We used the HELOC as the property was off market and needed to be paid for in all cash. We did some upgrades to the property and will be taking 75% out of the appraised value that will give us back our initial investment. Where we struggle is we want to use those funds to then put a down payment on a larger multifamily, but are we over leveraged at our personal homes that we used the HELOC through arent producing income?

@Nick Belsky

Hi!

I have a scenario i would like you all to weigh in on. My partner and I took our a HELOC on our homes. Keep in mind, our personal homes are not making any money. We used the HELOC funds to buy a SFH all cash. The SFH needs minimal upgrades. We will STR / MTR the SFH to bring in revenue. There is a local bank willing to give us a loan on the SFH to take out our original investment. With those funds, we will place a down payment on a larger multifamily home.  Essentially we are financing our down payment from the loan we are using from the SFH which was financed from our personal HELOCS.

Does this leave us too exposed / levered? Is this more risky than a typical BRRRR as we are starting with the equity built in our personal homes that dont bring in revenue?

Thanks!

Quote from @Omair Hameed:

Quote from @Donald DiBuono:

Hi @John Rivera congrats on your purchase! I second @Anthony Zotto 's sentiment on Lansingburgh. It is a rough area so ensure you do your due diligence on prospective tenants! Good luck!

What areas of Troy do you recommend?

Eastside Neighborhood is more rural, but a very good area. I actually have a duplex there I am considering selling if you have an interest. Downtown is good, river street is good. All areas are nice imo except lansingberg. It can be pretty tough.However, I think they are doing some effort to try and clean it up.

Quote from @James Ciccarello:

Hello All, 

I have just begun my search for a MF property to house hack in upstate New York (Capital Region - Albany Metro). My goal is twofold, to gain experience as a RE investor / property mangement, and reduce living expenses so I have more flexibility to make career/life decisions - pretty straightforward, right? 

What are some recent stories of House Hacking Success?

What are some challenges you have encountered along the way?

Anything in between to share?

Thank you!

James

 Hi James,

I have actually done this 3 times in the capital region...but with a twist. I house hacked 3 flips - 1 in Rotterdam, NY 1 in Troy, NY, and my current residence is in Wynantskill, NY. We are going to stay in Wynantskill for a couple years so I took a HELOC to continue my real estate journey. I also have a duplex in Troy, NY. The rents are pretty high and you can still find some on market properties that make sense financially. If you have any questions, dont hesitate to reach out!

@John Clark I have no idea what the source of the smell is from the pets. He said none of the pets go to the bathroom inside. Its just a very awkward thing to do is tell someone you smell so bad its offensive.

Quote from @John Clark:

Your details are too vague. Is the smell from personal hygene? From cooking? From poor housekeeping? Pets?

Identify the source of the odor and the solution(s) will present itself. For example, if it is from cooking, install/upgrade stove fans and honestly tell them that the aroma is bothersome. If it is housekeeping, tell them that you are concerned about vermin and they have to clean up their act.

 I believe its from animals...what can i do?

Hi,

I have a duplex that is very updated with good tenants except for 1 issue....they started to smell. The tenants pay on time, or early. They help with little things to fix around the property. Recently, I noticed an odor when I went to help fix something and the upstairs tenants are complaining of the smell entering the hallway. I dont want to throw the upstairs tenants under the bus because they have a good relationship with the "smelly tenants". I dont want to ruffle feathers with the downstairs tenants because they do alot of good and are good people, but the ordor is bad. I dont know how to basically tell someone your home smells clean it up politely. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

DJ