All Forum Posts by: Jessica Zolotorofe

A lawyer 100%. There are so many state specific and federal regulations with contracts that can get you and the contractor in trouble if you don't put them in the contract. It's worth the price now as opposed to the very significant penalties if you miss something. 

If your contract doesn't prohibit assigning the contract, that sounds like the best way to go. Although the right to assign in within the non-assignable lease so unless it specifically says you can assign the right to purchase, I would have a lawyer review the lease before you go to too much trouble. I'm not sure why a landlord would ever have allowed the assignment, especially in a rising market. 

No, for 1031s you have to buy with the intent to hold long term. It won't work for fix and flips or for new builds. 

Definitely speak with a good real estate attorney and a good broker to gather some knowledge of the business. Best of luck!

How were people living in a commercial building? Unless they were doing it illegally?

Unfortunately, it's not a "taking" so you are not entitled to any compensation. FEMA didn't technically "do" anything to you. They simply rezoned based on where flooding takes place now. I would have just offered to pay a year of flood insurance for the purchasers and called it a day. It should never have lowered the value that much. Most houses in flood zones are not that heavily impacted by the rezoning. Both of my houses are in flood zones and i purchased them for market value for homes in and out of the zone. It's not a big deal to have the insurance if floods rarely happen there and it's not even the entire property effected. Not sure why your value would go down that much.

I would suggest an attorney read the leases, as well, but it can't hurt to ask the chiropractor to waive exclusives with regard to this particular tenant, to the extent that they exist. If it is a cooperative tenant, it shouldn't be an issue. They may even get referrals from the PT tenant. If they are uncooperative and say no, they'd make a big deal about it once the PT tenant was in anyway, so better to know up front. 

@Nicholas Salvia I live in the Heights and I do a lot of business there. from an investment perspective, it’s slowing down a little because of the high volume of new build 2 family condo conversions coming in. There are also new laws against tearing down “historic” homes, so the inventory for buying property for new builds is lower now. Fixer uppers are still a possibility, but sometimes they are so old and in disrepair, it’s more expensive to rehab than rip down, so theres a dilemma. I still would say it’s a hot market to pick up property in if you can find one and make the numbers work. Definitely “up and coming” so I don’t see anyone losing money there right now. Happy to answer any other questions!

@Kelly Ke

@Vaughn Smith is a great broker. Montclair is a hot area, but has some less desirable neighborhoods, so be careful of that. It also has a lot of “charming” old homes, so calculate in some surprises if you plan on renovating or holding long term.

@Jake Zhang

I disagree that you have to sell it vacant to get market value. The lease is valuable in that the new owner will have income until they find something better and then they can give notice. I think you should put it on the market with an option to the purchaser, but honestly, $100 a month is really nothing if you can turn a profit on the sale. I wouldn’t even consider a $100 increase a real benefit.