All Forum Posts by: Josh Robbins

thanks so much @Michael Gansberg, some very helpful information.  as i get up and running and start farming in the area i'll let you know how things go.

Hi @Alex Halimou, i'll second Kevin's points but again, i only have some small anecdotal evidence.  I think the points you make are all valid, and quite frankly, you probably wanted to make those points 3-5 years ago.  that's not to say Beacon is not still a town on the rise.  My brother-in-law just moved to Cold Spring and I believe it was either there or Beacon that they were looking.  He's a bit of a hipster (he'd kill me for saying that) so the small hippy feel of Cold Spring is what they were looking for, while Beacon would be a little bigger.  

I agree with Kevin on the schools but as young families start to move into a town, the school systems start to get an influx of money.  i'm seeing it in my town now and i'm confident by the time my 4 year old is in high school we'll have "desirable" schooling.

And you're right, people commute from Phily everyday to get to NYC, 74 minutes is nothing.

Hi @Michael Gansberg, I'm a newbie that's begun looking in the capital district, specifically Troy. I'm outside Boston but my wife's family has been there for 30+ years.  Boston market is unaffordable at this point (and not a very good deal anyways) so I've taken to looking around. I like Troy because I know it's starting to be a little rejuvenated. When my sister in law told me they'd actually prefer to rent in Troy I knew it was a good sign. 

How do you feel about Troy and even the surrounding towns like Cohoes and Watervliet?

Thanks @Mark Nolan, I've been consuming about as much as I can each day from these forums and blogs. It's how I came to the conclusion I need to do a little more research on the repair costs. If I'm looking to add any balls I'll need to factor it in. I appreciate the tip. 

@James E. Thank you for the detailed post, it makes perfect sense. A lot of great information and is really helpful in guiding me down a path to working this appropriately. 

that's a good idea @James E.. I sometimes forget (probably because I try to) that I was an accidental landlord about 7 years ago. Valuable learning experience though and helps me be a little less afraid of the landlord game.  I love the concept you're describing and would love to do something similar with the small multi families.  I really love the economies of scale they can provide. However I have no idea how to evaluate the costs of repairs. When doing your initial analysis do you try and get a rough estimate of house repair costs and how do you do it?

hi @Rob Randle

I'm a newbie here too but have been doing a lot of research on multi families. From what I've read and heard you should really factor in the future state of the property and not just current conditions. What I mean is, right now your operating expense % seems a little low even with ridiculous NJ property taxes. That may mean you're not factoring enough for maintenance. I'm not sure how long you plan on holding the property but 10% may handle the maintenance on a high end place in the first few years but big ticket items start to creep up.  Well you have enough when you have to replace the roof and three water heaters?

Also, you don't have property management in your calc which makes sense if you plan on living there or nearby but do you plan on managing it in ten years?

Also you didn't mention utilities other than water so I'll assume they're split and tenants will cover. 

I'm pretty conservative when it comes to estimates as I like to assume the worst and hope for the best. 

Thanks @Robbie Reutzel and @Joe Fairless. I'm in the market for cash flow and like you said, appreciation is the cherry. Thanks for the tip on Methuen, I'll give it a look.  I recognize that a lot of these towns are not the best neighborhoods and I guess that's the risk with an easier point of entry.  I plan on having a management company, being extra cautious with tenant screening, and paying attention to the better neighborhoods by doing my research and working with locals (I do have a friend from Fitchburg).  Hopefully between that and factoring in a decent vacancy rate I can find something with good financials. 

I really appreciate all the feedback. So many paths to walk down while starting out, it's nice to discuss with people who have been there. 

Thanks for the replies. I'm in agreement, from what I've seen there is nothing inside the 495 belt for under $150k, so I've been looking outside it. Fitchburg (Worcester too) often stands out in my searching as a place with lower priced multi-families  but I'm not familiar with the area (yet).  I do know it's not the best area but It's also a college town so there is the opportunity for student rentals. Anyone know Fitchburg and have rentals there?

@Rachel L. Thanks for the advice on the agent/investor. I hope to be able to do that but need to figure out the markets I want first. Unfortunately house hacking is not an option for me.  I currently own my single family primary residence and my wife and kids would be none to pleased to move out.  I do alright in my full-time job so I could probably save up enough over the next couple of years to get the down payment levels up but as the old Chinese proverb says "the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago the second best time is now" (thanks for that one #askbp podcast).

Hi All,

I'm just getting started on my real estate investing journey and i'm trying to figure out where to start looking.  I'd like to employ a multi-family buy and hold strategy and I don't have a lot of cash to invest right now (i know there are ways around this).   In my area, near Boston, the majority of properties are more than I'd like to pay for my first place so i'm trying to develop a plan to narrow down my search.  How do i become an expert in a market if there are so many markets out there, which one(s) do I choose?

I've started looking at MLS and checking where multi-families are below $150k in MA, NH and RI. Is this a good starting point or does anyone have any suggestions on how they did it?

Thanks