All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Sowinski

@Engelo Rumora 

I was hoping for some sort of analytics or quantitative basis for your original statement of "Up state NY is one if the toughest rental markets in the US, in my opinion" Unfortunately, "greed" being the basis does not do it for me and I have to respectfully disagree with you.

How "greed" is specific to a region or market? 

Also, I initially didn't think that generalizing "upstate" (approximately 54,000 sq miles) was going to be fair, and you have confirmed my opinion through your reasoning.  

I can share that where I have invested in "upstate" specifically WNY, more specifically the City of Buffalo it has been fairly easy to realize decent returns (15% Caps 20% ROI with buy and holds (these are in the nice neighborhoods too) and 165% CoC on my rehab) and I do not try too hard and would consider myself still "greenish" in the REI world.

The one thing I do agree with is the importance of finding a good PM if you are not managing yourself. 

I am assuming that you are basing your opinion on a poor experience with a PM (or a few)...?   Perhaps you could share some lessons learned?

@Engelo Rumora I am wondering what are the specific reasons for thinking upstate NY is one of the toughest rental markets?

I have personally found that sometimes its hard to not get emotional with potential deals (its getting less and less with more deals that we look at).  You want them to work so bad, or they work at first then you discover something that is a deal breaker and you don't want to let it go...just don't fool yourself that they will work when they likely will not.

I have a property that I am trying to work and looking at it from 30,000 ft it is probably more of a mess logistically, risk level and amount of investment required before closing than I should be getting into with my experience level and resources but its a great property that is a few houses down from ours so every time I pass it (everyday) it calls to me.

I am sure others would agree, there are always other (better) deals...

Yep 220 is two family.

You could go either way in how much detail you provide.  I would start with Permits and Inspections I would give them the general situation...interested in buying, recorded as two unit is there any way to update to a three unit if so what are the major items they require?

I am not intimately familiar with the building code requirements but if the architect mentioned sprinklers there may also be requirements for maintaining two means of egress, fire ratings, hardwired smoke detectors...other things that may end up adding a good amount of renovation costs.

Julie,

No experience personally but I have heard many accounts (none that were good). I am fairly familiar with the process, graduated from UB Architecture and Planning.

From what I have heard the City does not approve the conversions often or ever though these may have been references of trying to convert properties that may have never been 3s or 4s before, not ones that were once and now are not.

However, I would not rely on this 100% obviously and if would all depend on the property and way that is/was recorded. What is the property class code listed with the Dept. of Taxation?

This would most likely require approval from the planning board and definitely the Dept. of Inspections and Permits… talk to them. I have had good experiences with both Departments in the past, but more so by going down in person rather than over the phone. I know they are super backlogged and think they appreciate people who try to follow the process and do things right and will work with you if you do.

Also, the new Green Code http://www.buffalogreencode.com/ may change the process/requirements once it is adopted. So if there is little to not a valid chance now there may be in the near future.

Out of curiosity what neighborhood is it in?

Hope this helps, feel free to reach out me if you want any more input.

@David Eisenberg Welcome, my history is reverse of yours...went to school in LI moved back to Buffalo (actually finished schooling here) and started buying properties.  Do you have any specific areas/neighborhoods that you will be narrowing your search?  

Self-managing from across the state sounds like it may be challenging...do you have any sort of network set up locally?

So an issue has come up since my last post...

Apparently the deed was not been updated as a result from the divorce proceedings due to the property being under contract to sell and was set up to split the revenues at the time of the divorce.  Well the sale fell through after a few months and nothing had been addressed since then.  So it looks like the property may be held as "tenants by the entirety" (I am verifying this).  If this is true, from what I understand she could not transfer/sell her interest...can anyone verify this?

I really missed BP, this is great stuff so far...

@Andrew Abbott I would assume Quiet Title may be a pain but who knows? 

And as @Rick H. tried internet found a bunch of stuff but nothing in the last 1.5-2 years, and like the approach if negotiating the "remain in hiding" angle if I can track him down...

Thanks.

@Wayne Brooks I am assuming that this would have been a result of the divorce settlement agreement, not something that could happen retroactively?  

Aside from a partition, is there any way to get one party off a deed?

Hi all, it’s been a while since I last posted to the forums and thought I would share an interesting situation I came across with the BP world. As the title states…I am looking for a spouse, not for me as I already have a wonderful and loving wife, and technically I am looking for an ex-spouse.

The scenario is: A property in a great neighborhood is owned by a divorced husband and wife, both are still listed on deed and mortgage (neither one lives there). Mortgage has since defaulted, gone into receivership and has a payoff well below market value, (it will most likely go to auction in February or so).

I was able to speak with the wife and she wants out but apparently the husband split post-divorce and can’t be found. From what I can tell she wants nothing to do with the property and wants to avoid foreclosure but obviously needs husband to sign-off on any sale…so I need to find the ex-spouse.

So anyone have any suggestions as to how to:

  A.   Structure a deal now with wife?

  B.  Find ex-husband?

  C.  Convince him to agree to a sale?

Of course if anyone has any other strategies for getting this property sold I would love to hear them…I was looking into possibly getting her to transferring her partial interest to me but it didn't seem like that would be a good idea.

I obviously need some more info like the details of the divorce settlement before I commit but wanted to see if it may be worth the time/effort chasing this?

Either way any insight would be appreciated, thanks.