All Forum Posts by: Phil Li

Congrats Phil! I was born in raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, so probably not too far from your home. 70K plus any equity you can grab from a HELOC will get you pretty far in plenty of areas. I currently invest in Baltimore, but I would be wary of investing there without being intimately familiar with the place - at the very least, you should finding someone there (eg an agent) you can fully trust. But it doesn't sound like you were interested in that area anyway.

Since I can't speak to any other areas, I would recommend spending lots of time on RedFin/Zillow to get an idea of what areas match the price point you're looking to invest in. You can ask on a public forum, but it completely depends on what your price point is. Are you looking to invest in million dollar homes or 200k homes? And then most people only know where they invest. I would scour BiggerPockets, entering the cities/towns that you might be interested in and see what people are saying. You can ask here, and someone might enthusiastically exclaim, "INVEST HERE!" but how much credence does that have - how much should it have? Once you find people who invest in areas at your price point, then perhaps you should initiate, network, and see if the area makes sense. 

Best of luck. If you have any BRRR-related questions, independent of location, I'm happy to answer them.

@Phil Li

I purchased a 3 family house hack in the Bronx in 2015. When I first bought, the other 2 units cover all expenses (PITI, common electric, water, etc -even paid someone to handle the trash) with about $400 left over. So I was living for free expect needing to cover repairs/maintenance. I just moved last summer, so I use the rent from the apt I was living in to subsidize the rent in the new place (wanted bigger place/better area). PP $505k, down payment with 3.5% fha was only like $18k and last year I refi'd with a good amount of appreciation/equity. So you could def still buy with what you have now unless you're set on putting 20% down. Bronx may actually still be a better place to buy cost-wise depending on where in BK/Queens you're looking.

Also NYC laws suck for landlords but alot of regulations you don't have to deal with when you have under a certain size property (like only 2-3 units). unfortunately I did have to deal with evicting a tenant and it took almost a year and it's a lot of lost money so having three units definitely help cuz I still had one unit helping me cover expenses think about that. But all in all being a landlord in NYC is definitely a great learning experience (trials and all) and will help me in building my portfolio (not in NYC lol). But def feel free to PM me if you want to talk more 😊

@Phil Li I'm born and raised on Long Island and I've lived in Brooklyn now for 2+ years. I would seriously suggest thinking about of state/area investing because landlord tenant laws are continuing to get worse and worse and I don't foresee it getting any better. You can also get much better cash flow/yields and invest in similar types of markets that are similarly recession proof if that is a concern. I'm 100% invested in the Southeast and Midwest US and I don't think I'm ever going to buy investment property in NY/NJ unless things drastically change.

 Hey man, you're young. I would say continue living at your parents house for as long as you can and build up your rental portfolio to the point where your cash flow pays for your mortgage. In a few years, with your salary, you'd be in a good position. But that's just what I would do in your position. Your other option is to house hack. Good Luck!

Hello @Phil Li,

Welcome to the BP forums!

Cash-flowing with a Brooklyn or Queens NY house hack deal is achievable depending on the area and down payment. The best answer to finding out if/how this is achievable would come from a lender. 

That being said, its great that your current living situation is allowing you to save such a significant chunk of your respective incomes. Your projected downpayment amount will get you into a duplex in a wide range of areas in Brooklyn and Queens. A triplex in the $1-1.25M range will likely be found in South Brooklyn and Queens. 

The house hack strategy is a great way to get started in NY. Most people in this market do not anticipate cash flow on their first house hack deal. 

From my experience working with house hackers, here are the reasons folks have used the strategy when building/growing their NYC portfolio:

- They can get in with a low down payment - You can get into a multifamily property property in Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Long Island with less than $35K.

- They can significantly lower their current living expenses - People currently paying ~$2K/month in rent can pay as little as half of that for their portion of the mortgage (after collecting rental income).

- They gain acquisition, project management AND property management experience - all which will help tremendously when its time to scale and grow the portfolio.

- NYC properties appreciate higher than most parts of the country - of course, this should not be relied upon. Rather, it should be looked at as a bonus!

Best of luck to you on your journey!

Abel

@Phil Li Yes sir, i also work a full time job, so we are in the same boat. You need to vet your property management company, call a few of them and interview the owners. Ask them every question you can Google about hiring a property management company and call all their references to verify they are as good as they claim.