All Forum Posts by: Abel Curiel

 Hey @David Nathanson!

If you're looking to educate young professionals on the benefits of house-hacking in Brooklyn, I'd do 2 things:

1. Show a breakdown of how it helped you. Your testimonial can be the most powerful evidence/message/value proposition.
How much were you able to save monthly by househacking vs. renting or owning a single family property?
How much equity did you build, on average, each year you've held onto it?
How much money did you save by self managing and how did the experience make you a better landlord?
Share other lessons, anecdotes, and challenges that would be helpful with this audience.

2. Share info that already exists on BP and Youtube. Tons of videos, blogs, and forums related to house hacking. 
@Jon Schwartz also has an awesome calculator you and your target audience can download. The calculator breaks down the differences between house-hacking a multi-fam, occupying a single-fam, AND renting.

Hello @Yvonne Wang,

The scope of work should include the following:

- Basic info: Property address, client name, contractor's contact info, address, license#'s, signed general/operating agreement b/w contractor and client

- Specification of repairs: Repair item, Quantity of items needed, total & per unit cost of items, taxes (if applicable), Completion hours, title of the person responsible for the repair item, written summary describing the work

- Add'l info: Schedule of repairs, additional payment schedule details i.e. disbursement schedule, method of disbursement, deposits, holdback amounts, etc.

The screenshot below highlights a couple of repair items. The total contract is 20+ pages, which I cannot share due to the personal information contained in it.

Hope this helps!

 If you don't have an agreement with either one of them, select the one who you think would be the best fit to represent you. If you aren't sure who to choose from, ask each of them for a meeting/consultation to break down your goals, the market, and the acquisition process.

Once you've selected one, have them draft the offer for you and take it from there.

The best agents are responsive, knowledgeable on the local market, have a strong supporting team (i.e. lenders, title, inspectors, title, etc.), and know how to put together a deal.

@Michael K Gallagher mentioned, you'd want to clarify whether or not your agent is also representing the seller. If they are, their fiduciary responsibility may be to the seller, not you.

Hello @Sa'Mara Roberts,

This is a tough situation to be in, but it seems you're being forced to file a partition. 

*This is not legal advice!*

If your aunt was cooperative, you may have been able to form some formal operating agreement... although I am not sure how that operating agreement would hold up in your state.

1. Although I am not a legal expert and am not familiar with Michigan state laws, I think a partition could be helpful if it leads to pleading your case in front of a judge who can ultimately decide. This is better than not speaking with your aunt, letting the problem linger and likely worsen.

From my experience, in New York, the ultimate decision will depend on many factors and Liberal judges (as told to me by others with way more experience in these matters) can rule in favor of someone with a sob story. i.e. Your aunt does not want to agree to sell the house b/c of a partition since it will leave her daughter out on the streets.

Gather the paperwork you have and speak with a reputable attorney with experience in these matters. BiggerPockets' search option is a good start if you want to speak with people in the community.

2. In an ideal situation, you and your aunt would each pay back your fair share to your grandmother or each other. i.e. each of you share X% of your sale profits to your Grandma OR you and your aunt split the past expenses (taxes, other holding costs, renovation, expenses, etc.) with your grandmother and pay her back. 

Your attorney should be able to help with this as they will likely want to get an itemized list of projected past expenses.

3. You can look into civil court or housing court to find out more about the process. 

Here in New York, it's kind of up in the air. 

While you can file a partition suit independently, some may strongly recommend working with an attorney for a faster/more efficient process. I've also spoken to attorneys who say that judges have more sympathy for people who represent themselves in these kinds of matters.

I'd say look into how you can do it yourself AND speak to multiple attorneys for their input (most first consultations are complimentary) THEN decide how to move forward with the partition.

All the best!

Abel

Hey Scott! 

Shooting you a PM!

@Tony P.

Millionaire RE agent by Gary Keller is another good one. David Greene’s books are great resources as well.

I made about 35K my last PT year. Just under 100K my first full year and over 200K my 2nd full year.

Huge piece of advice someone gave me as I transitioned to FT, do not count commission until the deal closes. Instead, focus on improving your skillset, helping more clients at a high level and implementing systems in your business.

Theres a lot more on the topic so I’d recommend searching past forum posts on getting started as an agent.

Happy to chat as well.

@Isadore Nelson

Yes, you can check the county clerk’s website or office. I haven’t tried the clerk’s office since before 2020 so not sure if this is still feasible.

You can also search acris and go to their site to look up the property. If you don’t have the parcel’s block & lot #, you can use the street name & # to pull up public record docs including deeds, liens, violations, etc.

Once you get the deal under contract, your RE attorney will also run a detailed title search to uncover anything else of importance.

Hello @Isadore Nelson,

From my conversations with colleagues and investors in CT, evictions can happen in ~60 days. Not sure what the process is like there but compared to NY, it is a faster process.

We just toured an occupied 4-family in NY today with a client and the eviction process for those tenants commenced not long ago (within the last couple of weeks). This process can take a couple of months if the tenants are cooperative, but will likely take 6+ months and possibly over a year.

Do you know if the tenants for the subject property are cash tenants or program/voucher recipients?

Do you know if the eviction process was started by the owners before foreclosure?

More than likely, the bank will not want to invest in attorneys for an eviction if they're looking to sell as-is. 

In that case, this would need to be an all-cash purchase and could be sold along with any liens, violations, or judgments against the property to be the responsibility of the purchaser.

To your point, this is difficult but feasible. Aside from the risk of taking on the property with tenants, you may also have to purchase site unseen which makes it tough to calculate repair costs. 

All the best!

Abel

Queens Update

Thanks for reading, BP Community!

We've seen insignificant changes in Avg. Days on Market (DOM) since Q3 of last year.

Single-family residence values continue rising and are selling for nearly 9% more than last year - National average for home sale price increases is 4% since last year per one of BP's most recent podcasts.

Multifamily properties in Queens have sold for a median price nearly 6% above last year, jumping from $1,058,000 in Q3 '24 to $1,120,000 in 2024.

Lastly, despite inventory increases, the # of sold properties has declined when compared to last year.

Hello @Helene Goodworth!

You've received some great advice on this thread especially what @Taylor Dasch said about adding value to your databsase via knowing your market and sharing properties.

That said, I'd recommend focusing your time and efforts on:
1. Analyzing deals regularly, even if you don't have a buyer in mind for it. You'll learn more about your market than other agents nearby. The BiggerPockets calculators are great, I use the rental property calculator frequently.
Real Estate is a great long-term investment even if you make a bad decision BUT knowing which deals rank highest in your market will help you become a go-to investor-friendly realtor.
2. Be consistent with your lead generation efforts. Target prospective homesellers from 2-3 sources and present these opportunities to your network. For example, call FSBOs, expired listings, geo leads, and/or distressed seller leads (pre-foreclosure, probate, etc.)
3. Go to networking events and be intentional about who you're looking to meet that day and what kind of value you'd like to add to them. Collect people's contact info, share yours, and add them to your database/email list. You can then create a follow-up plan for your contacts to remain top of mind.

All the best!

Abel