Exploring New York Upstate Cities of Newburgh, Albany, and Troy
Since moving to Brooklyn in 2013 and watching mass gentrification unfold and rent prices subsequently skyrocket, I have always thought about what if I could find the next big spot where people are flocking to and be on the ground floor, right before rent and housing prices begin to soar. To me, for years, it’s sounded like the ultimate get rich in like a twenty year scheme, an opportunity to maybe make a buck.
My adventures over the last couple of years have brought me to places far and local. Exploring Denver, Detroit, and then last year places like Jersey City and Yonkers have yielded the realization that I’m not ready to move out of New York City just yet, but I have been keeping tabs on these places, finding opportunities where, once I have amassed enough capital, where I could put my money down and watch a real estate investment generate income via rent and appreciate over time. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit three upstate New York State cities and see what was up: Newburgh, Troy, and Albany in search of the next big Gold Rush.
Newburgh, New York
About ninety minutes north of New York City, Newburgh, when talking to people, seemed synonymous with crime and hardship. However, sitting just across the Hudson River, many creative-types living in Beacon, New York, home to art museums like Dia: Beacon, have begun to spill into Newburgh, causing the once-forgotten city to to change.
While there seemed to be this excitement surrounding Newburgh, touching down, though, I was a bit shocked about how desolate the city was.

I took the Metro North up to Beacon and then used a very easy commuter bus which took me over the Beacon-Newburgh bridge and dropped me at the corner of Broadway and Liberty Street in downtown Newburgh. It was raining that morning and I was able to quickly find a nice, new coffee shop, serving the same types of treats and coffee drinks you’d find in Brooklyn using Yelp.
Two Alices Cafe was right on Broadway in downtown Newburgh, but the whole main street in Newburgh was totally desolate. Many of the storefronts seemed decrepit and unsafe. I spoke to a real estate broker headquarted out of downtown Newburgh who strongly advised me to not walk far up Broadway because it was too dangerous. Sure enough, walking up Broadway briefly, I felt like I was in the 1970s: the storefronts hadn’t been renovated in years and were in a total state of disrepair. People looked very homeless wandering in and out of them.
Two Alice’s, the cafe, was nice, and when you walk on Liberty Street, a street very close to the water, running parallel to it, there are a handful of new, expensive-looking restaurants that have been built. You can tell there are changes unfolding in downtown. Liberty Street runs right along the Hudson River and the views of the water are absolutely beautiful. If you walk about ten minutes south you’ll get to Washington Heights, Newburgh, which I heard from multiple people is a hot place for real estate investment. There are old, well-kept houses there overlooking the river and the view is absolutely beautiful.

The cons here are 1) property taxes skyrocketed in Newburgh a couple of years ago. 2) Many houses and buildings are in terrible conditions and while they may cost $50,000 to buy, need about $350,000 worth of work. A real estate broker told me that the buildings in Newburgh were recently relinquished by people dealing in organized crime. I unfortunately didn’t press for more details about that. And 3) Newburgh, for someone living in New York City, was quiet. You can see the signs that things are changing: everyone you talk to mentions the relationship between Beacon and Newburgh and how people from Beacon are coming into Newburgh now. But between the high taxes, condition of the buildings, and the state of the city — I think there were better options. But I still greatly enjoyed my visit.
Albany, New York
A couple of days later I ventured with a friend to New York’s Capital Region: Troy, Schenectady, and Albany.

We didn’t spend a ton of time in Albany, but I was pleasantly surprised about the downtown area of Albany. There were new cafes and bars lined on Lark Street in downtown Albany. My friend and I spent about a half hour sitting in lovely Washington Park, and then walked about ten minutes towards the water and towards the Capital Mall, where we met up with a friend who lived in Albany.

The Capital Mall was also really awesome and very interesting, and there was living music playing. My friend who lives in Albany mentioned that during the summertime live music plays almost weekly. She really enjoyed living in Albany, and said there were lots of things to do in the area and a good community in which to hang out with.
Troy, New York
I have to say that I think out of all three of these cities, Troy seems like the safest bet in terms of places to invest your money.
Troy is about twenty minutes north of Albany, and is beautiful, surrounded by tons of greenery. My friend and I, who I drove up with, enjoyed a nice sandwich in downtown Troy when we first arrived, which was a somewhat bustling downtown right on the Hudson River. The downtown was clean, fun, and seemed positioned to take on a larger population. From talking to cashiers at different restaurants, we learned that there was an emerging tech scene and companies like Warner Brothers had just opened offices in downtown Troy. The city is also home to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We walked up the hill to the campus where my friend used the bathroom. That was also a very nice area of Troy.
While I heard negatives about living in Albany and Newburgh, I don’t think I heard anything negative about Troy. My friend and I did visit with a very nice real estate agent at Keller Williams in Troy, and the receptionist there mentioned that people were moving from Albany to Troy.
When we did speak to the real estate agent at Keller Williams, she mentioned that prices for apartments and even buildings were totally reasonable and many were in good condition, unlike in Newburgh. Further, taxes were much lower in Troy than in Newburgh. While I was able to speak to a few real estate agents in Newburgh, I only spoke to one in Troy, so I would love to get more perspective about the market from multiple sources. Still, there was nothing bad I heard about Troy.
Later, while hanging out in Prospect Park in Troy, overlooking the city, we met two younger 20-somethings who had just moved from Saratoga Springs, who also commented about the population growing, the things to do in the area, and generally had nothing but positive things to say about the city.

Conclusion:
I don’t have the desire to move from New York City, nor do I really have the capital needed at this point to purchase an income-generating real estate investment, but I’m doing some research.
While I have to say that I really enjoyed my trip to Newburgh, by far I think Troy seems the safest bet if you were to choose between these three places to make a real investment. But anywhere nowadays (maybe not New York City, unless you have deep pockets), seems primed to have real estate investment be valuable.
