I’m a newbie and was wondering if there’s an REI club in Queens? If not where do the Queens people meet? Any ideas? Anyone? Thanks!! OK so 29 people read my message and not 1 idea?? I’m only seeking some direction
I am a member of one on Long Island. It has members from all over NYC. I even know of a couple form Rockland county that attends the monthly meetings.
I’m from Queens as well…I have looked into the REI club but they charge like $300 per year for registration and I don’t understand what the fees are for if everyone is basically sharing information…Another thing is it’s impossible to make money in the Queens RE markets…I don’t care how much money you put down you will never make a decent yield paying 10-15 times annual rent roll…Then you go out to Suffolk County in the cheaper areas and it’s still near impossible to cash flow or break even…So other than looking through MLS and reading Craigslist/RE forums etc I have no clue what these local REI clubs can offer…No one is giving anything away and even foreclosures are overpriced and literally sit on the market with no interest…The 5 boroughs has a very long way to decline before any real money can be made…I would bet that these REI meetings are nothing more than RE brokers doing the same nonsense they do best,try and tell you this property is a great deal when it’s a piece garbage that is overpriced by %50 and they shove you to Jim so and so who can get you a mortgage on this losing deal And probably a bunch of lame saps trying to sell their junk they bought because they didn’t do their homework…I can’t tell you how many times I have seen “This won’t last”…RE brokers anger the heck out of me…They insult peoples intelligence day in an day out…
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Hello, and your question is a great question. Here’s the thing, I always tell my investor clients and friends, don’t study overall Real Estate. Don’t get any ideas on overall Real Estate…because that’s what everybody else does.
Sounds crazy?
What you should do instead is PICK AN AREA of Real Estate, and become an EXPERT in that area. That is how you make money in this industry. It’s not magic, and while faith and believing in a higher power are great, it takes more than that. You must have a particular area of Real Estate you know most about, and find the areas of the United States that particular strategy works great in.
Do you know what mostly EVERYBODY does? They continue to read all these books and all this information on the Real Estate industry as a whole, and only really remember around 10% of it. Why not spend your time picking a particular area of Real Estate, and studying all there is about that area? Then, study more, and use your creative abilities, to become an expert in that area. Then find the area of the United States that particular niche works great in, and how long it would work great in before you would have to try it elsewhere.
There is a number of different Real Estate areas, a number of them. You must pick one area or a few areas, study those areas, become an expert in those areas, build your team, get your money source, and formulate your plan. Monitor your plan somemore, than begin doing your plan.
- John
Rookie…the REIA clubs have to charge a membership because it cost money to put on the monthly meeting.
Look at what a club cost are: you have a rental fee for your meeting place (ususally a conference room in hotel), monthly news letter, special guest speakers monthly (they usually want money), advertising the club itself, many have grab prizes each month for members, developing REI tools, creating a library at times and much more.
In FL you expect to pay around $120 a yr or $20 per meeting for non members… Plus members generally get more help from the more experienced investors…
yrush,
Thank you for the reply and now I understand but that doesn’t change the fact there is no money to made in the 5 boroughs markets unless you are doing a 1031 exchange and have large gains already…I’m not sure if you are from around this area and if any one is or you I would love to hear how anyone is making money…
I every so often check in with an extremely wealthy RE developer/investor/landlord that I used to work for as a kid just to see what he is doing/thinking/buying…He has been in a massive cash position for years now…So if a seasoned pro is sitting on his hands then I will do the same (talking about the 5 boroughs)…Thanks for the breakdown of where my $300 membership fees for REI goes then…
Rookie… I am not investing in your area, but I am from Floral Park and my parents live in Bayside now so I know your area, plus I live in South Florida which is also an over inflated market. Keep in mind by me, the avg home is 360K, which means you need to earn $100K a yr to afford it, yet the avg income is under 50K a yr and 2 family income is under 75K a yr so home ownership is tough and forget about rental of a SFH since a 360K home still will only get $1300-1600 a month in most areas for a 3/2.
I still do the occassional rental, but generally it is on a condo if I can find a great deal, not on a SFH. I do have some older properties for rent which made sense back in the day and still when your in an expensive market, if your buying large commerical properties you can still rent for casshflow since purchase price is mainly based on rents.
I would recommend looking into rehabs and assignments for money. even in a slow market, rehabs work, as long as you buy right and sell it right, This is why many HML will only lend upto 65% of the After Repair Value now in this slowing market. This way after your completed, you can price it right for around 85cents on the dollar and sell it fast. Now think about this…You buy a home in Queens for about 300K that is worth $500K but needs about $40k in work. That put you in it for about 68cents on the dollar. Now you need 2-3weeks to rehab and have 3months of total carry cost to sell. carry cost will be about $10K for 3months, so now your in it for $350K. You priced it right once done at 440K b/c your not greedy and agree on giving 3% towards closing cost and accept an offer of 435K givein your buyer a strong 10% equity in the home… So you pay a realtor 5% commission. After all is said and done, you have a final sale price of $400K netting a profit of $50K on the sale, but also incurring expenses of $85K to help ofset some taxes you will pay which will really increase your income on the deal…
NOw do that 4 times a yr, and your making 200K a yr in income after your expenses of $340K, so at tax season you will be in a great position…
Also many people look away at buying rentals in other area. Do not be afraid to buy upstate. Most of upstate NY will cashflow, may not appreciate, but like the this post orginated about, it will appreciate and you do not have to go upto Buffalo, just get over the Tapanze bridge which is only about 45min drive, best way it to take CrossIsland to Whitestone and I cant remember that highway you jump on by Co-Op city over there…great way to go…(now I am wandering alittle there)
Also never forget getting to what is the ultimate goal…COMMERICAL…more cashflow…but yet you need the 5-10% downpayments which to buy the right deal you will need about 200K in cash…but partner up with someone. Commerical deals are not as credit score driven so are actually easier to quailfy for, since its all about the money. Also many people tend to forget about buying office building, strip plaza’s, fast food locations, Home Depots, Walgreens, CVS, just plain large stand alone building housing an off name store, specialty shop, or warehouse…
Did you know Home Depot, Walgreens, McDonalds, and more do not own many of there building, they lease them back since it is easier to right off the expenses, and they are NNN leases (triple net) which means you have no landlord responsiblilities…
Check into that side of investing…
yrush2000,
Thank you very much for taking the time to write that very informitive post…It did open my eyes some…As for rehabbing in my area I’m not sure I will be able to find homes that are marketable in the 300k range…As it is right now the RE market is at a stand still in the rougher areas…I have considered buying NNN properties and I have the down payment needed to execute these deals but after figuring the numbers out there is no real yield/benefit to this at the moment…I have considered NYC multis and commercial same thing just too expensive to actually make money…I refuse to believe that NYC and surrounding boroughs will continue to appreciate and I won’t dare buy simply for future appreciation because that is not much different than speculating at these price levels…This is the reason why Upstate is somewhat attractive to me,I can actually make a yield and that’s what I’m all about…I can’t begin to tell you how many of my friends own multi families in Brooklyn,Bronx,Ridgewood Queens and they are NOT making money…Breaking even to me is NOT making money because the down payment that is used for these 800,000-1 million properties can simply be put in a money market fund safe from deteriorating prices and make headache free monthly money,or better yet be put in closed end funds and make serious yields and appreciation…All the while I have listen to the horror stories about evictions,who’s roof needs 20k worth of work,who is buying a property for 12x rent roll (which is actually cheap ,sad to say)…I just don’t want to buy someone else’s headache and worse overpay for it…
My main problem upstate is how many liars and thieves I come across…We own property down here that has been passed down from 2 generations and I can say with %100 certainty that we have a %5 vacancy rate…So what I keep questioning is how can we have prime RE and have %5 vacancy and in nomansland USA they are claiming %10 vacancy…It’s just an outright lie is how…So after doing my formula of deducting %20 vacancy,%10 annual repairs,%10 property manager,taxes,mortgage,insurance,water,sewer,some utilities there is like beans left…Then the question comes into play why am I forcing myself to do this?..
Luckily just over this weekend I met up with a few good guys that I was introduced to that have the same mindset but they are doing things that work…I won’t say on the open forum where Upstate but they are doing well and their method interested me very much…I will be moving forward with following through with them ,only because they are not force feeding me the same BS that is rampant in the popular Upstate locales…It’s not about the money for me,it’;s about seeing through the BS that is everywhere in the RE world…I will keep you informed via IM and I truly appreciate you take the time to explain what you have to me…Thanks again.
wow i started this post just to find some connections in Queens NY. Rookie and Yrush 2000 you have good opinions and advice thanks rookie were are you in Queens?