First of all, there is no doubt that buying a home in New York is a major purchase and likely one of the biggest purchases that you will make in your lifetime. There are not many who can afford to have their home purchase turn bad. The whole purpose of buying this house in the first place is as an investment, a safe place to call home, a place to raise a family, somewhere that you can just be happy. Now getting off topic for just a second, it is also likely that you are using the equity from your former home towards your new potential home, if indeed you have owned a previous home. It might appear as if that has nothing to do with home inspections but the two are linked because selling and buying a home are probably both equally as stressful. Sometimes the uncertainty accompanied with the burden of stress can skew your thinking and sometimes your common sense.

There are so many misconceptions about pre purchase home inspections from all standpoints starting with the seller. They usually could care less about the inspection as they feel they have nothing to gain and only stand to lose. This is so untrue but often people do not stop and really give that any thought. No matter what shape the owner feels his/her New York property is in, the smartest thing they can do is spend the few dollars necessary for an accurate home inspection. Spending these few dollars in the beginning will save you major dollars and stress in the end. If the owner has this information in advance, even before listing the house on the market, it helps the seller plan accordingly and prices the house accordingly too. The seller can either make repairs himself or at least get bids from contractors to show the potential buyers when working out a price.

Most everyone thinks that a home inspection is only for the “protection” of the buyer. That is only partly true. Yes, the purpose of the inspection is to reveal any unknown issues with the house but by no means does the buyer order the pre purchase inspection to make the house out to look bad, remember the buyer is hoping more than anyone that the inspections turns out favorable. They just want the inspection to validate their decision to make the purchase. The buyer wants to know if there are any big ticket items that need to be addressed or maybe even a bunch of smaller issues. The New York home inspection is actually your first in depth “get acquainted” look at your new home because it covers information on so many of the homes’ components, systems, utilities and their locations. If your home inspector is like most concerned inspectors’, he is your source for information that you can turn to long after the close of escrow when everyone else involved in the deal has disappeared.

Manhattan, New York property is not a yield but rather an appreciation game. An investor buying New York property focuses on the long term appreciation potential. Demand for Manhattan property is global, coming from all over the world. Manhattan is a brand and the vacancy rate is less than 2 percent, relative to the US’s 10 percent average. Inflation would mean rents and property values will increase.

A yield strategy in the US would mean investing in a midsize of small city. For example, Syracuse, New York is a college town with a yield of 10 to 15 percent. From personal experience, the appreciation from a city like Manhattan New York far outweights the rental yield cashflow from a midsize of small city.

Commercial property yield in New York (Manhattan) is driven by price point. The lower price point properties, less than $20 million, generally have an asking price at a 5 percent yield.

The higher price point commercial properties, more than $30 million, would have a higher yield, perhaps 8 percent or more. Reason is that at a higher price point, there are fewer players which decreases demand. Also, buyers at the higher price point are often institutions that put a lot more pressure on sellers from a pricing perspective.

The value of commercial property is driven by yield. Similar to a stock’s PE ratio. The more the landlord can obtain in rent, the higher the value because a set multiple, in this case rental yield, would be applied.\

Wei Min is a real estate broker and investor focused on investment property. He is Founder of Castle Avenue Partners in Manhattan, New York. Previously, Wei Min was VP at Citigroup responsible for a $500 million portfolio. He received Citigroup’s prestigious Chairman’s Award, a recognition awarded to the top 2% of managers. He was also Director of Travel Insurance at American Express where he managed a $180 million portfolio.

Wei Min has traveled to many cities to view thousands of properties. He speaks English, Cantonese Chinese, Malaysian and Mandarin Chinese. He graduated with an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BBA from Marshall University.