Why we spend time in diligence

Question

Ran into a fun one this week. Got an outreach on a small 4 unit that was close to a 6 unit we already own. No tenants, but place had been well rehabbed by an apparent flipper.

Wrote up an offer sight unseen then went to walk it. Hmmm...one front house 3/2 with apparent garage converted into two efficiencies and one 1/1. Ok that’s 4 units. Walk through with my handyman and things seem off. All 3 units share one water heater?

Kept finding weird things that didn’t add up. Next step, call the city and ask for zoning. Look there, single family with garage. No variance requested. How about permits? Nope, nothing about the conversion.

We asked the seller’s rep And she said “yeah, they’re looking for a cash deal from somebody who doesn’t care about zoning or permits.”

Nik Moushon · Answer

I go out of my way to NOT cause people hardship even if they are in the wrong and deserve it (got more important things to spend my time on)....but this is one I would report to the city. The have purposefully broke the law, disregarded code, and are trying to get out so they can pass their troubles on to someone else. This how and why REI gets a bad name and reputation. This is one of the very few instances where I would go out of my way to report them. No one deserve to inherit this amount of BS, even if it their fault for not doing proper due diligence.

Thomas J. Clifford · Answer

This would be a great thread for newbies on the different kinds of curveballs that they might not be aware of. Good catch!