All Forum Posts by: John Merryman

Looks like you got a great deal! Very inspiring to see something like this going on nearby. Looking forward to following your progress, and wishing you great success!

Sounds like a smart plan - house hacking is a great first step.

I'm in a similar situation, looking for investment properties relatively near home in Westchester, but prices are crazy - also looking at Ossining, it seems to have potential with convenient access to NYC and a good bit of development going on. One wildcard is the prison, which I think will continue to be a drag on property values long-term, but as southern Westchester keeps getting more expensive, the population will likely continue to migrate north. I'm also looking at Yonkers, which is similarly developing although some areas are pretty rough. Finally there's Peekskill, which is also affordable but I'm not so sure about the schools or crime rates. 

I'm also intrigued by some areas in Connecticut, specifically Norwalk. 

Thanks Brandon!

I've already downloaded and started the book, and have listened to about 10 podcast episodes so far, and was on the webinar last week! Such a great wealth of resources here - thank you!  

I'm definitely planning to go to the meetup, lucky timing for me! My office is 5 minutes away, bonus!

Thank you, I will definitely be running more numbers through the calculator - I've been looking at a few areas and trying to zero in on a niche that could work for me. Definitely envious of those of you who live in areas where you can buy cash flowing properties for under 100k!

Greetings everyone, I'm new to the site and to real estate investing. I'm 39 and live in Yorktown Heights, NY where I own a house with an accessory cottage which I rent out. I guess you can say I'm house hacking. My "day job" is running tech (mostly software dev) for an internet startup, but I'm realizing that I'm not a city guy and all of the demand for my tech leadership skills force me to be in New York City. I'm lucky to have made some good money at my last startup, so I'm hoping to parlay that into a real estate business and avoid the city lifestyle.

When I'm not working, I enjoy riding my horse, flying planes and working on my house. My profile pic is me riding in the Bedford Riding Lanes hunter pace last month. I love doing DIY projects, especially home automation. This past weekend I installed additional wifi and instrumented my pool to monitor and log the temperature over the internet.

I've got two questions for everyone

1. I live in a high-cost area where multi-family homes needing reno list on the MLS for 200k+ even in marginal neighborhoods. Single-family homes are even more pricey. Should I start looking further from home, explore foreclosure/short-sales, or just try find some cash flow locally even if it's well below the 2% rule?

2. If I want to put properties into LLCs for asset protection, any tips on how to get financing? I want to avoid having my assets at risk. 

Thanks everyone!

Greetings everyone, I'm new to the site and to real estate investing. I'm 39 and live in Yorktown Heights, NY where I own a house with an accessory cottage which I rent out. I guess you can say I'm house hacking. My "day job" is running tech (mostly software dev) for an internet startup, but I'm realizing that I'm not a city guy and all of the demand for my tech leadership skills force me to be in New York City. I'm lucky to have made some good money at my last startup, so I'm hoping to parlay that into a real estate business and avoid the city lifestyle.

When I'm not working, I enjoy riding my horse, flying planes and working on my house. My profile pic is me riding in the Bedford Riding Lanes hunter pace last month. I love doing DIY projects, especially home automation. This past weekend I installed additional wifi and instrumented my pool to monitor and log the temperature over the internet.

I've got two questions for everyone

1. I live in a high-cost area where multi-family homes needing reno list on the MLS for 200k+ even in marginal neighborhoods. Single-family homes are even more pricey. Should I start looking further from home, explore foreclosure/short-sales, or just try find some cash flow locally even if it's well below the 2% rule?

2. If I want to put properties into LLCs for asset protection, any tips on how to get financing? I want to avoid having my assets at risk. 

Thanks everyone!

Greetings everyone, I'm new to the site and to real estate investing. I'm 39 and live in Yorktown Heights, NY where I own a house with an accessory cottage which I rent out. I guess you can say I'm house hacking. My "day job" is running tech (mostly software dev) for an internet startup, but I'm realizing that I'm not a city guy and all of the demand for my tech leadership skills force me to be in New York City. I'm lucky to have made some good money at my last startup, so I'm hoping to parlay that into a real estate business and avoid the city lifestyle.

When I'm not working, I enjoy riding my horse, flying planes and working on my house. My profile pic is me riding in the Bedford Riding Lanes hunter pace last month. I love doing DIY projects, especially home automation. This past weekend I installed additional wifi and instrumented my pool to monitor and log the temperature over the internet.

I've got two questions for everyone

1. I live in a high-cost area where multi-family homes needing reno list on the MLS for 200k+ even in marginal neighborhoods. Single-family homes are even more pricey. Should I start looking further from home, explore foreclosure/short-sales, or just try find some cash flow locally even if it's well below the 2% rule?

2. If I want to put properties into LLCs for asset protection, any tips on how to get financing? I want to avoid having my assets at risk. 

Thanks everyone!