All Forum Posts by: Shon Butani

Thanks guys for the advice. I guess the other side to it is that if you invest in these class C areas with high vacancies and what not, appreciation is a much bigger risk than investing in a decent area? I guess you could get lucky though and invest in an area that really shapes up.

I appreciate the practical, situational advice though. I'm going to start networking in my area and finding out about different locations.

Thanks a lot Jonathan. Very informative. Would you say I should literally just start looking at as many neighborhoods as possible, create maybe an excel sheet and categorize them as class A-C (or D), and go from there? It seems overwhelming on one hand to think "ok I have manhattan and a 100 mile radius, lets explore" but like you said, I have to start somewhere. Are there any more efficient ways of finding neighborhoods, and then properties?

@Eddie T.I can spend 60-80K on a 20% downpayment for a property. 300-400k properties im looking for.

Hi how's it going. I just read Brandon Turners "The Book On Rental Property Investing" and he mentions the 2% rule for rent to purchase price. That's not even close to possible in Manhattan...An $800,000 apartment will not rent for $16,000 a month. 

How would I go about finding areas where the rent is 2% of the purchase price? I understand the market dictates rent, and that all the 2% rule tells me is what I can pay for the property. But if rent on a NYC apartment is $3000, that means I can only pay $150,000 for the apartment. Again, that wouldn't fly in NYC.

I mention NYC as a central point because I don't mind exploring Jersey, Connecticut, Mass. These are all within driving distance. I'm from Long Island myself, not sure if there are areas around here. I'm brand new, and just looking to find markets to analyze deals and learn the ropes hands on. I feel like I just read a book, and realized I live in the wrong area to apply the principles of the book.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Hi how's it going. Just finished Brandon Turner's "The Book On Rental Property Investing" and am looking to either read another book on the subject, or put what I learned into the action.

It was a lot to digest for someone who's brand new to real estate investing, but there were a few main takeaways I got from it.

1. Location is make or break...I'm from NY and wanted to know your thoughts on buying and holding rentals in this area. From what I've briefly read, it's not a good idea and very hard to generate cash flow. But, there are obviously investors in NY who make money. So I wanted to know if my next step should be to fully research the NY markets, from Long Island to Queens to Manhattan, maybe go to a local real estate club meeting, and just become well versed on what's out there. Or would you recommend as a new investor, I stay away from the NY markets altogether. 

2. The math is the most important part. In the book, Brandon talks a lot about the math, accurately forecasting income and expenses in order to predict cash flow. This seems like something that I'll need to read a lot more about, in depth. I want to be confident in my first deal with the numbers. I don't want to be confused or second guessing my income/expenses due to a lack of knowledge. Are there any additional resources you could recommend to learn how to forecast cash flow? 

Those two points seemed like the most logical "next steps" for me. Taking what I learned, and applying them to my area. But maybe this is all a little premature, and it'd be better to get a few more books under my belt on the general subject. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

-Shon