All Forum Posts by: Joe Cummings

Every time I see or hear the word "FLEX" involved with a commercial property it seems like it's an obsolete building that's laid out all wrong on the property, that was specifically built to manufacture something like steam powered typewriters.

It will have low ceilings, loading docks unable to accommodate modern tractor trailers, and two phase electric.

Even if the building is modern, It'll be built for some kind of business that was put out by some kind of big box retailer. If you can find another use for it, you end up with so much unusable space that you have to pay taxes on.

Oh and even if the building and property are good, FLEX means Cadillac pricing on a good used Chevy

First, buy up a block of rowhouses or a multi unit just outside the ghetto making sure it has good public transportation.

Do a quick rehab.

Advertise for rent in the PGN.

Sounds like the kid has some kind of addiction problem. The father is probably use to these "disappearances" and that is why he isn't filing a missing persons thing. Not like the cops really do anything about missing persons anyway.

Well the plot thickens. Paperwork from the realitor says "commercial property" I check the zoning map and it's R-3,,,,WTF, must be some mistake. So I go down to city hall to the zoning office to check it out. No mistake, it's zoned R-3. So now the clerks at city hall are wondering if there is some mistake and they pull up a picture of the property, and sure enough we are all talking about the same place.

Now lots of confused looks. Everyone agrees that this is a large industrial building. And they even tell me how much better it looks now than when their file photos were taken in 2003.

Now they bump me up a level, and the lady comes out and we talk for half an hour about what I want to do there. I show her the pictures of the new sprinkler system, all new electrical, new bathrooms, new concrete floor. She tells me she's going to call her boss and try to see what's up. 

More calls, She asks if I can wait around and we chat, Turns out that former owner was Mr Urban Blight who was in the used appliance business, and the place was a pigsty. Trash allover the property, grafitti, broken windows. She shows me pictures, it's almost hard to believe it's the same place.

So now she gets a call back. Yep it's R-3 and I will need to go before the zoning board to get it changed, and they will "probably" find in my favor, BUT the application fee is $1,000 no matter what the outcome.

Now the deal is F-ed all up and I withdraw my offer, and adjust down like 30 grand. Lots of sad faces. I'm like ok you fix it and I'll go back to my previous offer. Agent promises to get back to me this week.

@Jake Rees

Jake,

What types of E & O might there be in this kind of deal? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you aren't giving me good advice. I am just trying to understand how a buyer's agent is protecting me. If the title is clear, and the enviromental certs are clean, what else is there? A problem getting a U&O certificate?

Buying it for what the new roof and dry sprinkler system are worth, Maybe not even that much, everything else is a plus, and the taxes are low.

I want it to store and repair my equipment, and the rest for warehousing.

If all goes well tomorrow, I'll own a factory. Pretty much comes down to the environmental certs. 12,000 plus square feet, new rubber roof, new dry sprinkler system, 50 foot ceilings, 600 amp 208/120 3 phase power, supplied by 3 pole pigs in a wye. The crane-way is there and solid, but for some reason the crane and the safety-rail are missing. New his and hers bathrooms.

Bart's Factory by Charles_Decker

Yeah, it's in somewhat of a ghetto area, and my GF is going nuts on me about it. But really, who wants to live next to an old steel warehouse. I can't imagine some ladies garden club wanting me charging out the door on my 20,000 pound diesel powered forklift to pick something off a truck.

So here is my question, Real Estate agent seems kinda tight with the current owner. Not that that is necessarily bad, but who is the best person to represent me at closing? My Lawyer? Some buyer's agent?

This is a cash sale BTW.

I love NYC, I made a lot of money working on the Freedom Tower, The Hellgate Line, and a couple of Kiewit projects.  It's a high energy place, you can feel it in the air, it's like a drug to me.

That being said, it's a high stakes game, and you kinda gotta run in the right circles. Admission to the game is high, and everything is so political. It's not for the faint of heart. 

I can't say much about about what it's like to invest in dirt there. I was never anything but a peon subcontractor with a tractor, a couple of trailers, and a forklift (and the blessings of local 282).

Time is money there, and there is no time to sulk about little boo-boos. One time I was sitting in Manhattan waiting for some guys to get done drilling so I could break down the drill rig. Some guy totals a taxi into the back of my trailer. He gets out and he;s ok. He makes a phone call. like five minutes later a car stops and this guy gets out. (Patched in member of one of the dominant local bike clubs). It's his taxi. He asks me "Who was driving my car?". I point out the driver, and he says "Damn, I never saw that one before" Now we start laughing and he bums a smoke from me. He looks at the back of my trailer and there are a couple of broken lights. I tell him "F it, no big deal, I've got spares". 

We shake hands and he calls his driver over and leaves. I start loading the drill rig, a flatbed shows up to pick up the totaled taxi, the driver says "My boss said to give this to you" and hands me a bag with new lights in it.

So anyway, that's NYC. A totaled 5 year old Crown Vic, and 30 bucks worth of lights. No big deal, not worth getting cops involved. No insurance company BS. Not worth the time. Just eat your losses, and keep moving, "Time is Money"

Nothing?

Yeah serious shame. If you could only get commuter rail service into Philly or NYC. I wonder how fast a "Chinatown Bus Service" could get you from Reading to Center City Philly.