All Forum Posts by: Ryan Vienneau

@Frank Bonzai Costar definitely has off-market properties, but I actually wound up going with Reonomy, mainly because their less pricey option includes debt info, whereas with Costar you would need to upgrade to get that. Hopefully made the right decision because I'm stuck with them for a year now.

I hear people saying quite regularly that they think a cash flow of $100/door is a good benchmark, but personally I would never bother with owning a property for that unless it were class A, almost new, so you're guaranteed great tenants and few maintenance headaches.  My duplexes in Schenectady are mortgaged for maybe $100k, my payment with taxes is around $1100/mo for 20 yrs, and I collect $2200 rents on one, and $2500 on the other, and tenants pay all utilities.  So even after maintenance, I cash flow like $400/door, but we also self-manage.  

@Frank Bonzai I just went throught the same exact situation in Albany NY market, I'm also looking for a 20-50 unit here and demo'd Costar and Reonomy last week. Listsource's data just isn't robust enough to do what I need (doesn't give units on most properties, doesn't have true owner info, etc.). Both platforms offered a $200-ish/mo and $400-ish/mo package for my market, and both appear to provide pretty insanely detailed info, and both require an annual membership. Both of the cheaper packages give you everything you could ever want to know about any property in your market, on or off market. The pricier packages give you more access to analytics, reports, comps, etc., but at the moment I'm leaning heavily toward Costar just because they're THE name in this space.

Hi Chris, we manage properties in Albany for clients living all over the country, and we find the biggest challenge for many owners is just the psychological challenge of turning the reigns over to a property manager, since many feel obligated to stay involved in day to day operations even at a distance, which generally doesn't pair well with professional PM. Financially speaking, I'd take a look at your cash flow instead of ROI, if the property will cash flow enough with a PM to absorb your larger expenses over time, then eventually you'll own the asset free and clear without having to do much in the interim.

Don't waste your money calling in anyone, I'm in the Albany area and have tried to do this, and if its already R2 zoned, you have ZERO chance of getting a variance to add a 3rd unit legally, don't bother trying.  Whether it could meet code doesn't matter because you'll never get past the zoning issue.  All of the cities around the capital region are strapped for parking space, thus the cities are all trying to reduce, not increase, occupancy per acre, so they're not going to do it.  Your case also is not "hardship" so that won't work.

I bought a property in Schenectady, same situation, except the 3rd (illegal) unit was 80% complete when I bought it from foreclosure.  The city shot me down about finishing the third unit, so instead i made it into 2 more beds, a family room, and a half bath, and combined it with the second unit to make a giant 4BR, 2000 sf unit.

@Jim D. Is 100% correct, the age of properties around here is the major wild card. I own a couple Schen duplexes and they do in fact produce a cap rate north of 15, and my COCR was well over 50% first year after refi. That being said, I generally over-rehab and replace anything remotely questionable so I don't have to deal with it later and empty out EVERYTHING not nailed down, which includes the attics and basements, which has worked well for us. When we do need a plumbing repair in the basement, I don't want to pay the emergency plumber an extra hour for moving 50 years of old paint cans and extra paneling out of his way.

We also manage properties for clients, and those who go cheap on rehabs around here ending up getting hosed in the long run because they have emergency repair bills constantly, they have higher vacancy, they get less rent along the way, and then they wonder why their numbers don't work as well as they planned.  Then they sell, and get hosed selling because, again, the units aren't nice, and the financials were ugly along the way.  

Generally speaking, I would avoid anything with additions, properties that have been converted (like SF to MF, or duplex to triplex), or anything weird.  Around here, the classic 2 or 3 bed apartment will be built in the 20's to the 50's, it has a living room in the front, dining room in center, kitchen in rear, and bedrooms to the side, all with closets, and hardwoods.  The basements must be dry, foundations sound.  Don't be scare of slate roofs, they're common and not an issue, just always have a slate guy go and inspect and repair any broken/missing tiles and flashing on day 1.  

Cap rates have even compressed a lot in Schen in the past 18 mos though, it's tougher to find deals but WAY easier than Albany or Troy, and frankly I'm more comfortable with the safety of many Schen neighborhoods than I am with Troy, there are shootings daily in Troy lately.  

We are property managers in the Albany area and own several properties there, the market here is really hot right now, especially for downstate investors (too hot, really), but deals can still be found.  We have several property management clients from NYC, almost all got hosed by contractors when they tried managing from a distance initially themselves, then signed on with a PM and are now doing fine.  Also, every city here (Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Saratoga) requires that either an owner or designated manager lives in that county or an adjacent county, so keep that in mind.  All of the cities are cracking down hard on absentee landlords, which is a good thing for the neighborhood.

Those numbers can work in Schenectady, just stay away from Hamilton Hill and Mont Pleasant regardless of price.

If you want to see a detailed breakdown of one of my Schen properties with numbers and pics, I wrote a blog about it here.

I'm planning on doing a post on my others soon.

My Schen duplexes are 12%+ cap rates and always ooccupied. Schen, Troy, and Albany all now require onerous rental inspections, so that's a wash. Tax rates are almost all identical and ludicrous in Albany, Schen, or Renss counties, so that's also a wash. Saratoga is only county with reasonable taxes, but prices are crazy. You need to hit 2% rule around here to overcome the taxes. The catch in Schen is that BRRRR doesn't work on smaller MF because they don't appraise well regardless of income or condition since there are so many dumpy properties around, appraisers punish Schen duplexes/triplexes. So, COCR is everything in Schen, and you need money down because you can't refi your cash out.