All Forum Posts by: Dan L.

Hi All.

I am purchasing a four-unit, all one-bedroom apartment. It is a very good deal, especially because of the value-add with the giant garage in the back. However, one problem is the house has only one electric meter and one gas meter. All units use the gas boiler for radiant heat. I'm closing on this house in a week or two.

I've already talked to my electrician, and I've got plans already set to split it into 5 electric meters (one for each apartment plus the house). Even though electric is a lot of money to split, conceptually it's pretty easy.

Gas is what I'm more concerned about (perhaps because I don't have a good gas guy). It is in Upstate New York, cold winters. I’m looking at purchasing four new furnaces, hopefully use most/some of the existing plumbing, and provide radiant heat per unit.

Any thoughts or comments from anybody who has done this before? I would rather do mini splits, but I think we get too cold up here and they don't work so well at 0 degrees. And I know that electric baseboard would be too expensive for the tenants.

Any suggestions what kind of furnaces to buy?

Thanks for your input!

Hi all. I have a question. I am buying a commercial building, that has a few businesses on the first floor, and the second floor there is an apartment. There is only one doorway into the apartment, in the back of the building up some stairs. I have the building under contract, but I am a little uncomfortable about the apartment - does there need to be a second form of egress? The only window it has is a bay window that has too narrow of window panes, My inspector does not believe it would be to code.

They showed me their permit application from 30 years ago when the apartment was converted into an apartment from storage space. Part of me is thinking it was good enough 30 years ago it's probably okay today. The real problem is, in order to put some kind of fire stair off the bay window, it would have to go straight down the front of the building, which would look awful. And right below the bay window is another roof, so I'm not even sure how someone would escape from that.

The apartment is currently vacant and looks like it's been vacant for quite some time. So do I ask the town if it's legal? Will they come check it out and give me a certificate saying it’s legal? Without the apartment bringing in rent, the deal really isn't worth it. I really like this building, I want to get this deal done, but it really does depend on this apartment.

Thanks for any assistance!

@Chloey M.

"Maybe I’m old school, but I just think it’s so weird to ask a tenant to handle maintenance of YOUR home. That’s YOUR PROBLEM as a landlord, since you signed up to own property. Can you imagine an apartment complex asking their tenants to fix the sink or toilet when it acts up?"

That would be true if you want to continuously rub it in their face that it is “MY HOME” and not yours. Obviously depends on the quality of the tenant, which it all comes down to picking the right tenant, but if you got a good tenant and you respect them and make them feel that it is their home, they will do a great job maintaining it. I have tenants who have brought in mulch, stones, did sheetrocking work, etc and greatly improved “my” home because I let them feel like it is theirs. Yes I verify the lawn actually gets mowed, and there's not piles of trash, and I have had to send a couple text messages here and there to say “hey I noticed some trash at the side of the house”, but overall, let them feel they own the place and they will take care of it.

This is the big difference between single-family house rentals, and apartment buildings. It's one of the many reasons I prefer single-family rentals, just you can't scale up as quickly.  Apartments there's no way to make them really feel like it is theirs.

I think the 2 key variables for SFH rentals are a)purchase desirable houses, where good tenants want to live and want to renew that lease; and b)pick good tenants. The rest is easy.

@Anthony McEvoy Yes there is a creek about 100 feet behind the building, and part of the property is in a FEMA flood zone. So the basement is a full basement. But there is dirt all around the floor of the basement, but the seller thought that was because dirt came in through these holes over the years, and they said they thought underneath the dirt is concrete, but we did not dig to find it. They have regular basement stairs going down, and there is even a dumbwaiter going up from the basement so I assume they were going to put the kitchen in the basement.

Any idea what the name of those grates would be? And am I not supposed to back fill in that trench?

Personally I would suggest starting with something, just to get into the game. You learn a lot more once you start doing it. If you can find a small commercial deal, and you can afford it, go for it. But if you have to "settle" for a duplex, triplex or 4plex, then do it. I started with SFH's, now I've moved on to a 4plex, commercial (non residential) and land development - basically I learned I don't want multifam. It's probably profitable, just not my cup of tea.

I don't 100% trust the Fed... It really depends on inflation.  Which is dependent on whether the US will be fabricating more cash.  In the next 6 months I would say approximately status quo... 12 months? Depends on what new stimulus/infrastructure gets passed.

Hi all. All around the perimeter of this (unfinished/abandoned) 5k sq ft commercial building, there are these openings into the basement. The ground is dug out around the building, like a trench, and then these openings are throughout. They look like they are for ventilation of some sort? I am assuming they should have some kind of cap on them? What are they called, just so I can research more?

Below are a couple of pictures to show them. Thanks!

It 100% depends on what your lease says, and what your state/local laws are. New York state is very favorable to the tenants. With the pandemic we could not even charge late fees. So I think that greatly changes the way you approach rent collection. But for me, rent is due on the 1st, 5-day grace period. If someone gives me the story that they get their check on Thursday which is the 6th of that month, I'll play the game for that month. Much better to wait one extra day, and keep a happy paying tenant, than get into an adversarial relationship. But that only works for that month. Most likely in the next month, Thursday will be in the first 5 days of the month, so I don't play the game then. Working around their payday is basically my only allowable exception. As far as reminders, I'll usually send a reminder midday on the 5th of the month if rent is not in, but that really doesn't happen often.

Hi @Daniel Lioz  By outside self-storage, is that essentially a giant fence around, people have a code to get in, and then you just trust them just to grab their own boat, etc? Yes I could do that, but do people really trust that? Or do I have to have many fences & gates that can only access one particular 20x20 area (for example)? So it would be kind of like units, but with fencing around it instead of walls/ceilings? That would not be a bad idea. I had not thought about that. Do you have any websites or anything I could reference to learn more about outside self storage?

Thanks Seth. It's about 45 minutes away from where I live, and I did not look to see what the beams were made out of, which I regret. Next time I am there I will have to look.

Charles It is such a good deal that if I just finished off the building, I could rent it out and make a profit. It was a government foreclosure. I am not worried about if I'm going to make money, I am just interested in maximizing it.  I'd like to do cold storage.  It was set up to be a huge restaurant - I know zoning may be an issue, but it's at the intersection of 2 state routes and across the street is a car mechanic and a lumber yard.  I think I should be able to make zoning work...  If not I have several options.

Neil I am not worried about the financing aspects, I have capital, and lines of credit.

Thanks