All Forum Posts by: Shmuel Harris

Eric Calabrese Welcome to BP. To get a better idea, can you spell out your mortgage costs, expenses, taxes, (are there maintenance fees) utilities, etc.? Unless you guys are putting down a large amount of cash, it definitely looks like a negative amount monthly just based on the mortgage payments. And that's before looking at expenses etc. and even if you could cover the mortgage with the rent by putting more down to lower your mortgage payment, you are probably better off finding a multifamily that will bring in more rent. Good luck

Christopher Persaud Hey Christopher. Definitely need to calculate expenses like the post before mine. I don't believe the 50% rule applies here in NY. Otherwise, no investor would be making money. Gonna have to do some legwork to find all of your expenses. If you don't mind sharing, what did you buy the land for? And what are you estimating building costs as?

Tiffany Campbell Welcome to BP. Really great amount of resources here. Learn as much as you can, network and succeed!

Grant Mone Ok. Are you looking to wholesale the property or fix and sell it yourself? Or are you looking to keep? Either way, first you will want to determine the ARV- After Repair Value of the property. This will help you determine if this is a deal or just a property that belongs on the regular market. Unless the property is being offered at a nice discount, I don't think you would want to get involved. After that, you would ask to see property and try to get an idea for how much work needs to be done. Then you either wholesale it, or put the work in yourself and sell for profit or keep and rent out. If you give me an idea of what you are trying to do, we can take it from there.

Leor Dayan That is how you know you have the RE bug. You are looking at something that isn't as successful as it could be and it has you thinking "How can I get more of these going on". Good Luck!

Tzvi Balsam Good question. When I was saying yes I was referring specifically to finding properties that can be bought with an FHA loan. To find a cash flowing deal in NYC with a FHA Lon is difficult as I am sure you know. This does not mean that it is impossible. I have a 3-family listing that would cover mortgage and cash flow minimally. The property is already in contract but it does show that it is possible. Just hard to find.

Aaron Vergason Lots of good advise from previous commenters. It is natural to have a hard time in RE especially in the beginning. So much to learn and it looks like you are learning the hard way. The good thing about that is that your lessons will be more valuable to you. If you keep working on it I am sure that you will see more success down the road. You just have to learn how to fix up the kinks and keep pushing! Good Luck!

Henry Lai Hey Henry and welcome to BP! To answer your question where to start: Here. BP is the best resource to my knowledge for anyone looking to get into the REI industry. So much to learn, here you can listen to podcasts, read blog posts and learn about what other investors are experiencing. The NY market is a tough market but like anywhere else in the world if you work hard, you will succeed. What is different about the NYC market? I believe it is the large volume of serious investors. The market is saturated with people looking for a good deal. That makes it hard for a beginner to find the good deals. But this is just one humble mans opinion. Good luck and Happy Investing!

Leor Dayan Welcome to BP! Plenty of extremely useful resources here, I'm sure if you really want to learn this will be the best place to learn. As far as first investment deals go, like previous commenters said, this could have gone far worse. As long as your rent is covering the mortgage, you are not looking as bad as it could be. What you will need to consider down the line is how will you be paying for renovations when you need to turn over the apartment? Will your management company cover the costs? I doubt it. So that means that the $80 you are making monthly will need to be saved up to go into small renovations when your current tenant moves out. Other than that, you will also want money to cover the vacancies if you will have any. Depending on how quickly the property management company can fill in the apartment after it becomes vacant, you will have times where the rent is not coming in, but as the owner you will still have to cover the mortgage. Just a few things for you to consider. Don't get discouraged! Your first investment is the one you will get the most experience off of. Good luck and keep pushing!

In answer to your question, yes it is definitely possible.