All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Jacobson

There are a lot of factors here! I'll see if I can answer in order:

- If the property you're interested in has tenants, you must honor the lease. You may be able to pay them to leave early, but students are unlikely to take a cash-for-keys option. Also, most student properties are leased already through May 2026. If that's the case, you must also honor any leases that haven't started yet.

- Yes; for a VA loan, it must be your primary residence. The best shot you'd have at this would be to find a property that's occupied and has one vacant unit for you to occupy.

- The tax question is a good one for your municipality in Jersey. Get some solid numbers from them and plug those into your spreadsheet before making any other decisions.

- If you're involving another partner, I don't think you can take advantage of VA loan benefits. One of you could buy the property on a VA loan, but then the other can't be on the deed or even put money into the purchase. Maybe it could work, but it sounds legally sketchy. If you're committed to working with him, you'll need to find another way to finance.

- VA appraisals can be strict, but there's no real way to know what they'll pick out until it happens. Depending on the personality and situation of the seller, it could be good that the appraiser points out some issues, because the seller will be required to repair them to close (if you negotiate it that way). Conventional loans are less strict, but if something is really bad (like a roof or asbestos or structural issues), it will be pointed out in any appraisal. That said, sellers get nervous about VA loans, especially in a competitive market like Syracuse is right now.

- The HELOC is going to give you the most flexibility, and it also sounds like using that won't remove your tax benefits on the NJ property.

Let me know what you think on this!

Great! I send it to a few managers I know. Keep us posted on this!

This sounds pretty cool! I can ask around for managers to complete the survey. Is this for the Ithaca area only?

Did you try First National of Groton or Dryden? Sometimes they can do unconventional things, and they're worth building a relationship with!

If not either of those, I would try Tioga State next. Lisa Viglione is my favorite lender there on the residential side. 

I have significant anecdotal evidence for this, though I wish I had a crystal ball.

With students, "less desirable" usually means kids who can pay a little less than the $1100+/bed being charged in the larger buildings. We're still not talking about significant eviction risk, or any more damage potential than normal. In fact, many of the students who avoid larger buildings are international, and tend to take better care of the units.

At the end of the day, though, there will always be upperclassmen who prefer an older house with fewer units. They have their own kitchens, they're living like real adults, access to a back yard, a front porch; all of these things will perpetually be attractive to them. The bigger problem in Ithaca is that property values are so high, there's not a lot of motivation (or financial room after purchase) for landlords to keep their units updated and nice. There's plenty of smaller multifamily student housing in Ithaca, but not much of it is actually decent. 

All that to say: I don't expect all of this construction in Collegetown and elsewhere to wipe out the demand for smaller multifamily buildings. The problem is making the numbers work in this town!

@Kaleb Johnson welcome! Where upstate are you?

 Who is it?

Ithaca usually seems to have good intentions but this one is just short-sighted. Already, it's pushed out-of-town investors to focus on student housing where GC has less of an impact. So we restricted local landlords who rent to families, and soon the town will experience the very real repercussion of no one wanting to rent to families and professionals. Affordable housing? That's a whole other layer of risk. 

Binghamton has it on the table now, but I'm hopeful it won't pass there. This kind of legislation discourages good investors and people who enjoy coming in and helping to stabilize communities. As is often the case, it harm low-income populations most. In cities desperate for revival (Rochester and Binghamton are high on that list), this is the wrong move. 

Hey @Nate Slota!

A few things have changed since I posted that two years ago; what settled out is that no more than two unrelated occupants can live outside of R3. 

For your question, as far as I understand, the city of Binghamton doesn't allow STRs, but a lot of people do them anyway. Rates are pretty low, maybe $30-50/night. If you can afford it I would look north towards Tompkins and Schuyler counties instead.

 Syracuse is definitely experiencing a lot of hype at the moment because of Micron, and we're seeing lots of renovated options on the market in areas that likely won't benefit from the new campus. I'm advising folks to keep a close eye on Clay, Cicero, North Syracuse, the neighborhoods including and surrounding Eastwood, and the neighborhoods by the university. That said, it's nearly impossible to find a decent option under $300k in those locations.

If you have an apetite for rolling the dice and saying "I'm so glad I bought this ten years ago!", then go for other areas. Plenty of people are happy they took those kinds of risks. Otherwise, I'd say watch those areas closer to Micron understanding the barrier to entry will be significantly higher in exchange for the lower risk.