All Forum Posts by: Ingrid Nagy

I have a similar building that many years ago suffered from a fire loss. We did the work ourselves as owner. We did however have to retain a bond naming the City. Although we had loss of rents coverage and sufficient funds to cover the repairs to the structure we ended up doing a lot of things to the building that were not planned such as new fire escape construction and installation of a sprinkler system. The rules all change after a structure suffers damages or goes through condemnation.

IMHO both designations are beneficial and useful only if you intend to start a management company or want to work for a management company that "appreciates" the designations, generally an AMO firm, and the efforts involved to accomplish receiving them. The designations are great as a means of networking with others in the field as well and they are useful to stay on top of the latest real estate trends. As we all know, these constantly change.

CPM is a residential designation and CCIM is a commercial designation both affiliated with the National Assn of Realtors. I have had the first since 1989 and the second since 1999. in addition to the thousands spent on course fees, both require continuing annual membership fees of $600 per year each. They are considered the "degree" in real estate since there really is no degree available in real estate. I understand that NYU and other colleges now offer similar certificate programs however.

I worked for one employer that encouraged and paid for my education. My second employer could care less about designations. He was the type of guy who could analyze a property in three equations in his head, very similar to the 50% rule, and make an instant decision if he wanted a property or not.

When I was laid off what saved my butt was the foresight I had 24 years ago to invest in income producing property that today supports me. If I applied for a PM job today I am sure the designations and experience would better my chances of being hired for a position so yes there is an advantage on one hand. On the other hand, salaries have been cut in half with the state of the economy and the laws of supply/demand.

That's because they shot the entire movie within someone's townhouse. It was sort of like the Blair Witch Project - lots of hype through advertising and promotion that it is the scariest movie ever.......everyone went in with an expectation and it was pretty disappointing.

I call her the Bed Bug Lady. She's been my Sec 8 tenant for 14 yrs. Four years ago I sold a condo which she occupied. Sale required I deliver the condo vacant so after many months notice she came to court with legal aid claiming she could not find comparable housing. Luck was on my side and on the day of court a two bedroom became vacant in my other place so I moved her to that building at MY expense and fortunately saved my sale.

Delivered a beautiful apartment freshly painted with new wall to wall carpeting. Her and her grandson who she had legal custody of moved in. Then the complaints started: 1-call to Housing complaining I didn't provide heat. Investigator showed up at 4:30 am and tenant answered the door in her shorts and t-shirt. 2-leak from apartment to unit below. She refused to provide me with access and I had to wait 2 hours for the police to escort me into the apt. 3-her grown daughter addicted to drugs came looking for her mom to get money. 3 policemen showed and while attempting to restrain the daughter using mace were maced themselves. 7 more policemen showed up to haul away daughter and bring the first 3 officers to the hospital. 4-my beautiful apt trashed and infested with bed bugs.

After spending $1200 to rid the unit and two surrounding units of the full-grown vermin I learned that grandma was out of State living with her daughter and maintaining my unit FBO her 21 yr old grandson. Sec 8 investigated and upon each visit to the unit found that grandson was hanging at unit with friends. there was virtually no furniture left in the apartment and trash bags all over. Grandma was always visiting relatives out of State. Thus Sec 8 gave 2 mos notice and terminated subsidy. Grandma is 72.

So Sec 8 now threw bed bug lady back on me. With no rent coming in I filed a non-payment case. Lo and behold - at the 11th hour legal aid files a 30 page motion at 5 pm the day before Court staying my eviction and requesting to MOVE the case to the Superior Court in order to join and pursue an action of discrimination against Sec 8.

and the saga continues.....bed bug lady is back from out of state and sleeping on a plastic mattress. We are both waiting to go to Court next week to see what the Judge decides to do.............

When I thought I've seen it all.......I always encounter something new.

Robert, email me at [REMOVED]. I have both - perhaps I can help you. Ingrid

Wow - that seems pretty high. My friend in Deltona got a price of $35 per square for a single family house.

FYI - 100 SF = 1 square and takes 3 bundles of shingles to cover it.

Need a new roof for a condo project in NJ - rip off on two layer shingle roofing and new shingle installation needed on a 2 story garden Have not done one in a while. Has anyone put one on recently? approx. cost or cost per square?? Thank you.

If you think its worth less and you have the "potential" next year to reduce the taxes but are not certain it would work, make him an offer based upon existing your analysis. Worst they can say is no.

The attorney is Robert Giancaterino of Skoloff & Wolfe in Roseland. You can google his number. they work on contingency; don't know if they do NY. I have not done an appeal with him in a while but he successfully reduced taxes on my home and on a condo project for us years ago. Good Luck!

Mike, I noticed you are from Jersey. If the property is in NJ PM me and I can give you the name of a tax appeal atty I used over the years. Appeals here are on a contingency basis so atty would collect 1/3% of the tax savings for the first year as his "fee". Unfortunately you can't appeal unless you own the property obviously and the deadline is April 1 of next year. However you can go to the assessor's office and get information on the previous assessments/taxes on the property historically. If I were you I would chew the seller down on the price because of the high taxes and see if he bites. My question is why didn't he appeal this year?

I've done an appeal on my home several times with and without an attorney successfully. In NJ we are flooded with appeals since we have some of the highest property taxes in the country. Has anyone ever done an appeal on an income producing property? I am curious how the municipality assesses a building. They can't use standard sales comps and if they compare a building to another, how do they obtain the income figures and calculate their assessment?