All Forum Posts by: Victoria Gambardella

I got into real estate investing 2 years ago purchased a condo and rented it out with positive cash flow $500 per month. This past year I bought a townhome and got roommates to pay the mortgage/taxes/HOA so virtually living for free relative to previous years. Now as I step back and calculate my next moves I realize I’m in a fairly expensive market I.e things costing $150k + which leaves for hefty down payments and more mortgages. I was thinking of switching my strategy to significantly lower cost markets I.e single family homes / condos / multi family in the range of $50k or less. Where I could buy properties outright,rehab for a buy and hold strategy. I realize this often comes with big risks: tenants in lower income neighborhoods, sometimes higher crime rates, trouble finding contractors willing to work in these areas due to crime rates, possibly working with section 8, etc. Are there any markets people would recommend that are looking primed for gentrification or would fall into these categories? I’m considering Trenton NJ but would love other perspectives and rationale for markets to consider. (Side note: I’m currently in Burlington VT, spent time in NYC area, and originally from Philadelphia suburbs would prefer something in an 8 hour drive but it’s not a deal breaker if it’s a market further out would just need to feel comfortable managing from afar).

I got into real estate investing 2 years ago purchased a condo and rented it out with positive cash flow $500 per month. This past year I bought a townhome and got roommates to pay the mortgage/taxes/HOA so virtually living for free relative to previous years. Now as I step back and calculate my next moves I realize I’m in a fairly expensive market I.e things costing $150k + which leaves for hefty down payments and more mortgages. I was thinking of switching my strategy to significantly lower cost markets I.e single family homes / condos / multi family in the range of $50k or less. Where I could buy properties outright,rehab for a buy and hold strategy. I realize this often comes with big risks: tenants in lower income neighborhoods, sometimes higher crime rates, trouble finding contractors willing to work in these areas due to crime rates, possibly working with section 8, etc. Are there any markets people would recommend that are looking primed for gentrification or would fall into these categories? I’m considering Trenton NJ but would love other perspectives and rationale for markets to consider. (Side note: I’m currently in Burlington VT, spent time in NYC area, and originally from Philadelphia suburbs would prefer something in an 8 hour drive but it’s not a deal breaker if it’s a market further out would just need to feel comfortable managing from afar).

The first goal I want to achieve is getting my living expenses (Mortgage, HOA, Taxes, Insurance) completely paid for by others. My strategy: I'm fairly new to the Vermont area and there is always a factor of me potentially moving away for work, so I'm not 100% sure where I will be over the long haul. Any properties I look at I make sure that there are multiple exit strategies, it's easy to maintain / upkeep from a distance (in my area multifamilies are out for me due to high maintenance and inventory that is in really rough shape plus a crack down on local government for upkeep), and is strong on cash flow in some shape or form with the strategy being buy and hold.

I'm currently paying far too much in rent so I started to look this summer for a town home that I could live in and also get roommates. I found a perfect layout town home: 3 floors, at least 1 bedroom on every floor, at least 1 bathroom on every floor so it really is a perfect setup for roommates but it's a sizable investment 299k. That being said comparable in the same community are 320k and selling within 24-48 hours on the market this is a FSBO so I got a heads up on it. Roommates would bring in 1700 with me also living on the property. The deal stalled as the property had some work being done on it.

In the meantime I found a small condo 5 min walk to the lake for a really inexpensive price - 2 br 1 bath 169k. I bought it and spent 30 days fixing it up in 3 weeks I had 3 prospective tenants. It's rented cash flow positive for $500 a month (even with mortgage, hoa etc.). It's my very first property and I'm quite thrilled with it (p.s. I also got an offer for 30k above what I bought it for but my strategy is buy and hold). Approximately 3 months after that rented - I got a call that the original deal is back on the table as all work was complete. If I successfully rent to roommates I will have achieved my goal of zeroing out my expenses but be pretty out of the market for approximately 2-3 years while I re-establish my savings. I'm looking for advice and watch outs on my  thinking from other investors since I'm so new to the market on the investing side. 

Property specifics: 

- Turn Key

- Can be sold quickly 24-48 hours (hot market for the past 3-5 years with housing shortage)

- Can be rented down the road for cash flow positive return $200-$300 per month if need be

- Roommates would be attracted to it but I could also afford to live there on my own if I absolutely had to (but it's far too much house for one person and I would be far away from achieving my original goal if that was the case)

Happy to provide any more details. 

Thanks so much @Jeff Rabinowitz- I took your advice, got pre-approved, created an excel spreadsheet with my personal criteria for investing that helps me evaluate deals quickly to determine what is worth looking into (thanks to the help of BP there), and I am off and analyzing in my original hometown of Delaware County PA. My fingers are crossed something will develop where I can add value for my first deal. I completely agree with your advice not to put the cart before the horse so to speak. Thanks for responding to my FIRST POST!

I'm brand new to real estate investing but have decided to buy my first property (rental). When starting this search I wanted to create an LLC so that I can put the property in my LLC's name rather than my own - even though I know I will have to personally guarantee it. I live in NY but want to purchase my first rental near my home town in PA. Where should I create my LLC, where I live or where I want to purchase property?