All Forum Posts by: Charles Molluzzo

Nicely done, @Alex Bradley!  Did the seller agree to sell to you on the first phone call or did you have a series of follow ups?

@Tiffany Smith, welcome to Bigger Pockets.  I am also located in Washington, DC, and seriously looking at the San Antonio market.  I'd be happy to chat about strategy some time.   

Welcome to Bigger Pockets! Are you looking to buy and hold, BRRR, or another strategy?

Welcome to BP, @Tanya Lechner. It is great that you are continuing to grow as an investor and are not just counting on things working out the way they did with your first few projects! I am looking at San Antonio in 2019 and would be curious to connect hear your thoughts regarding deal sourcing outside the MLS.

@Adam Scheetz, unfortunately, the part of Northern Virginia within the DC metro area has virtually zero multifamily properties.  See this thread,

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/588/topics/528983-northern-virginia-nova-mfr-non-existant, for some folks discussing the same issue.  While there are multifamilies here and there, they are very rare. I would avoid any in DC itself because they will be expensive and the landlord-tenant laws are very, very tenant friendly.  If you would like multifamily, I would go further south or to the Midwest or Texas.

Hi Adam,

Welcome to Bigger Pockets!  I am originally from Staten Island, but I have not lived there for more than a decade and I do not know the local market there, except to know that it is quite expensive. 

I am local to the DC area now, and I think that you might be able to find some deals far out from DC in Northern Virginia, but nothing multifamily at that price point.  If you want multifamily, you are better off looking in another market.

Given that your areas of interest are not local, I would also recommend reading David Greene's book Long Distance Real Estate Investing. 

In the meantime, good luck networking and try to find a relationship where you can use your strengths.  There is probably an introverted number cruncher out there that would love to have some help dealing with people! Good luck!

Welcome!  I am originally from Staten Island but have lived in other places for quite some time, but still have family on the island and visit a few times per year.  Unfortunately, I do not have much to suggest practically because I do not know the market well in Staten Island, but good luck with your efforts!

While my experience is limited, it sounds like setting up a set of good criteria for tenants and then following them without exception is one of the best ways to avoid problems.  The fact that the tenant could not afford the up front payment was a big red flag.

On a personal note, I am sorry to hear you are going through this.  It really stinks.  Hopefully, it will be a learning experience and you will be able to avoid similar scenarios going forward.  Keep on moving forward!  

@Joel Owens, thanks for the great advice.  Everything you said makes sense.

In this case, the property is in a mature, developed area in an outer borough of New York City in an excellent location.  The lot has a slight slope from back to front but there are essentially no trees on the property.

There are a few vacant lots nearby that have not yet been developed, though one party paid a significant amount for a lot about 2.5x the size of this one, so that at least provides some basis for comparison.

It sounds like finding a good commercial specialist is worth pursuing, so I will look into that.  Thanks!

Hi everyone,

After a death, my family will have to sell a property containing a single family home, but the property may be worth more as a commercial property.  The road on which it is located is a major street (3 lanes each way) that has become more and more commercial with each year.  In fact, the properties on either side of the house are commercial - one a house that was converted to a nursery school some years ago, and on the other side, a former gas station that is now major wireless carrier's cell phone store.  The property is zoned both for residential (semi-detached and detached), and for light commercial use (e.g., neighborhood grocery store, medical office, etc.).

While I have not yet conducted the analysis, I know how to value the property if it were sold as a single-family home (comps, though direct comps will be difficult), but I am inexperienced with commercial properties.  How would you begin to analyze the value of the property for a future commercial use?  The future commercial use could be the modification of the house (e.g., use as a doctor's office), or an entirely new structure (a medical building, for example). 

I appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

Best,

Charles