Investment property on Long Island, numbers first

We are Mark Vogler and Gina DeMaio of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Laffey International Realty in Huntington. We work residential, mixed-use and new construction across Nassau, Suffolk and Queens, and we handle rentals for landlords too, so we see what owning a rental here actually takes.

Mark's 30 years in construction and homebuilding matter more on an investment purchase than anywhere else. He looks at a building and tells you what the next five years of repairs probably look like: the boiler, the roof, the electrical service, the work done without a permit. Those numbers belong in your projection before you make an offer, not after.

Gina knows the rental side: what tenants look for, how listings for rentals perform, and what makes a unit easy or hard to keep filled. Together we help you price the purchase on what the property earns, not on what someone hopes it will earn.

Price range matters too. We work from $650,000 and up, which on Long Island covers a lot of two-family homes, small multi-family buildings and mixed-use properties on main streets and downtown blocks. If the right investment for you sits below that range, we will tell you and point you to someone who works it every day, rather than stretch to cover it.

We also send you to the building department. Before you buy, you or your attorney should confirm what is legal on the property. We point out what to check so you are not counting rent from a unit that cannot be rented.

Every investment purchase we work on comes back to a short list of questions. What is the property legally allowed to be? That answer lives at the building department, not in the listing. What does it earn today, and are the current leases and rents documented? What will it cost to own each month once taxes, insurance, utilities you pay and a realistic repair reserve are counted?

Then come the questions about you. Are you planning to hold it for years or improve it and sell? Will you live in one unit? How hands-on do you want to be with tenants and repairs? A mixed-use building with a retail tenant downstairs is a very different commitment from a single-family rental, and a property that suits one investor can be a headache for another.

We work through these with you before you see a single property, so the search stays focused on buildings that fit your plan. When you find one, the offer comes from those answers, not from the asking price.

On an investment purchase, the price you pay is only half the story. What the building will cost you in the first few years matters just as much, and that is where a lot of investors get burned. A roof near the end of its life, an old boiler, an illegal basement unit, or an addition that was never permitted can turn a good-looking deal into a problem property. Those issues rarely show up in listing photos.

Mark has 30 years in construction and homebuilding, and we walk every property with you before we talk about an offer. We look at the systems, the layout, and the paperwork, including whether the certificate of occupancy matches what is actually there. We would rather tell you a deal does not work than help you buy something that drains you. When we recommend inspectors, attorneys and lenders, we give you two or three names to choose from, never just one, so you can pick the people who fit how you invest.