120 Cottage St Unit B

Auburn, NY 13021

$139,900D

2 bd · 1.0 ba · 832 sqft · Built 2023 · SingleFamily · Pending · 181 DOM

Cashflow @ list (25.0% down · 7.5%)

• Estimated rent: $1,337/mo
• Mortgage (P&I): −$734
• Tax + insurance: −$345
• HOA: −$0
• Vac / Maint / Mgmt: −$281
• Net cashflow: $-22/mo
• Annual: $-261/yr
• Cap rate: 6.11%
• Cash-on-cash: -0.67%
• DSCR: 0.97
• 1% rule: 0.96%
• Cash to close: $39,172

Investor read

• This is a 2-bed/1.0-bath single-family listed at $140k.
• At list price, monthly cash flow is $-22 ($-261/yr) — negative.
• To cash-flow at today's rent, offer at most $136k (2.7% below list).
• To meet the 1% rule (rent ≥ 1% of price), the offer needs to be $134k (4.4% below list).
• It's been on market 181 days — a 12% lower offer ($123k) is reasonable based on typical stale-listing flexibility.
• Recommended offer: $123k (12.0% below list) — sets the bar for market timing.
• Local home prices are declining (-3.0%/yr); year-one equity from $967 of loan paydown is wiped out by about $4k of value loss. Plan a longer hold.
• Location reads 74/100 on livability (#298 in NY, #4,814 nationally) — a middle-class / working-renter tenant base. Strengths: cost of living A+, housing A+, health & safety A+; Watch: amenities D-, commute F, employment D-.
• Auburn City School District (town): math 31% / reading 39% proficiency, ranked #558 of 590 in NY (top 95%) — families likely to look elsewhere, expect single-tenant / working-renter base with shorter leases.
• Zoned schools: Casey Park Elementary School (math 13% / reading 25%, grade F, #2,000 of 2,108 statewide, top 95%, 392 students, 78% FRL); Auburn Junior High School (math 16% / reading 26%, grade F, #661 of 729 statewide, top 91%, 598 students, 81% FRL); Auburn High School (math 88% / reading 84%, grade A, #347 of 1,100 statewide, top 32%, 1,183 students, 51% FRL) — zoned schools average 70% FRL vs 42% district-wide (28 pts higher); higher-poverty schools than district average — tighter screening recommended.
• Market conditions: 223 active listings in the ZIP; 161 units permitted in Cayuga County in 2024 (65 in 5+ unit buildings).
• Cayuga County population projected at -18% by 2050 — secular population decline; favor cash flow + early exit over multi-decade hold.

Questions for listing agent

• What do current leases actually rent for vs. the listed asking? Can we see a recent rent roll and the last 12 months of T-12 income?
• It's been on market 181 days. Have you received any prior offers? Is the seller open to a 12% concession, seller financing, or rate buy-down credit?
• Why hasn't it sold? Are there any deal-killer items the seller is aware of (foundation, flood, title, zoning, code violations)?
• Is there a deadline driving the sale (1031 exchange, divorce, estate, relocation)? That informs how much negotiation room exists.
• Schools are D-rated, which usually means shorter tenancies and higher turnover. Who's the typical renter profile here, and what's been the actual vacancy rate?
• The area grade is low — what's the realistic commute time and amenity access for the typical tenant pool here? Any planned neighborhood developments (good or bad) we should know about?
• What's the average days-on-market for RENTAL listings here right now (not sales)? A rising rental-DOM trend means longer vacancies and softer asking-rent achievability than the comps imply.
• What's the recent tenant-quality profile in this submarket — average credit score on applications, eviction rate, late-payment / NSF rate, and stable-employment percentage? A property-management company in the area should have these aggregated.