All Forum Posts by: Joshua Nudell

@Ryan Billingsley  Awesome work on finding your next deal!  It's good to see the progress you're making, and it's very inspiring!  Keep up the amazing deal flow man!

@Kathy Henley After doing some research on commercial and residential loans, the options are more favorable for a residential loan in terms of the cost of financing.  You're comparing the same loan programs between residential and commercial, and they're pretty close.  However, if you want a fixed 30 year loan to maximize your return on investment you can only use residential loans because commercial loans max out at 20 years for the most part.

When you go bigger (more than 4 units) you have no choice but to use a commercial loan, which limits your financing options.  If you're just starting out, this could put a limitation on your strategy options.  If you have a good track record with a lender, you can probably find favorable terms because you've proven you know what you're doing.

I suppose that is why some investors stay with the residential programs in the beginning and work their way up to larger commercial or portfolio financing.

Ultimately, if you find something where the numbers work for you, and you're comfortable with them it's not going to matter.  Just be sure to do your due diligence and build the financing variables into your projections and you should be fine.

I'm sure others have more insightful opinions on this topic, but just my 2 cents ;-)

@Matthew Moreau First off, congratulations on your deal! It sounds to me like you've covered the important points and have done your research. Normally I would say you would have to go with the 3/2 because they're almost always worth more on the ARV. However, if the neighborhood is trending like you say it is, I would think people would appreciate more space in a 2/2 than trying to squeeze the third bedroom in.

If you're confident in your research, then I think you will be fine going with the 2/2.  If you're not so sure, maybe ask someone else to do a comparable comparison between the 2/2 & 3/2 in the area for a second opinion.

Good luck on getting this deal done!

HI Damien,

I have considered using a HELOC for short-term expenditures such as fixing up a rental property, but I'm not sure it's a good choice for a long term buy & hold. It depends upon your strategy and what you're looking to accomplish both short term and long term.

The issue with using a HELOC for long-term financing is that your interest rate is subject to change over time, unlike a fixed 15, 20 or 30 year mortgage. And with rental properties, I think one of the main considerations is controlling your costs so you're not running around trying to make ends meet later on when surprises pop up.

If you're only going to have the rental property for 5 or so years before selling and moving on to bigger and better things, it might be a different situation.  However, most buy & hold owners are in it for the long run.

@Jason Pachomski  Same here for me in New York City. :-)

@Jason James  That looks bad, but no horrible.  I look forward to seeing how your project progresses and what the numbers look like.

There was a hoarder house that @Brian Burke purchased (cat litter house) that is probably the worst I have seen here on BP, but yet on par with those houses you see on the "reality" TV series about hoarders.

Looks like if you get a hoarder house for the right price (next to nothing?) it turns out to be a very good deal, albeit a dirty job.  But in most cases, you're paying someone else to clean the mess up anyway. ;-)

@Jack W. Wong  Yes, I currently live in Bellerose, Queens, but I purchased my first rental property in Pennsylvania in an area that I am familiar with and have relationships with people to manage the property while I'm not there.  The costs of getting started are also less than that of New York City, making the risks lower for rental property.  Also, in PA the laws allow landlords to deal with tenants more easily than in NYC.

Hi @Jack W. Wong ,

There are ways to access the MLS if you're not an agent. You can get a real estate associate login from an agent. In one of the local NY REI meetings I attended, the gentleman running the meeting mentioned that sometimes you can work a deal with an agent to get the assistant login if you offer to pay for part of their annual membership fee (it's a couple of hundred dollars for NY agents to have an account on MLS).

There is also a BP post:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/06/03...

Also a google search for "How to Get MLS Access Without a License" will turn up some results for you.

Hope this helps!

Hi @David Soria!  Welcome to BP and congratulations on finding the best resource on the Internet to learn about and get involved in real estate investing!

Hey BP community,

I would like to do some research into developing property in New York City (Queens to a little more specific) and I'm wondering if there are any BP members who have developed property in NYC previously or are currently developing property here.

Does anyone know what the costs to develop a mixed use building are by the square foot?  I'm looking at a lot of land that is 125' x 100' in a commercial zone in Queens.  This might be a bigger project that I can handle, but I would like to know if it would even be worth approaching a partner who has worked on this type of project previously.

Thanks in advance for any insight you might have!