Buying Second home on North Fork First (to rent, how much)

[kzoee]

My husband and I have decided to purchase a home on Long Island's North Fork before purchasing our primary residence. We will continue to rent in NYC outer borough (right now we are in Queens, but may move to Brooklyn).

This will allow us to purchase a home at a lower cost, with an additional opportunity to rent it out as income. Additionally, my parents and big family live in the area. We would get good use of it year round, and are willing to give up more popular times to rent for income. The home values in the area of North Fork known as Wine country are only going up, so in this sense, we do see this as an investment, even though many argue against using a vacation home as such.

We are looking to purchase in the $250-$350,000 range, and are aware the inventory is small at this price.

We'd appreciate input from anyone who has gone through this. If you are comfortable giving you're financial details, we'd particularly appreciate information on your income, how much you paid for houses, what your downpayment was, how much mortgage, rent, how you manage the two, how often you rent, etc. We'd also like to know how you obtain your renters.

Thanks very much in advance.