All Forum Posts by: Jon Robinson

I have a property that is built with I joist as the structural floors. There is a cathedral ceiling in the living room which sits off the kitchen and I want to hang a Jhula swing from the joist that span the section between the kitchen and living room. It is about a 20 foot section and there are already double I joist holding up this section, with the proper support all the way to the basement floor. My question is do you thing it is strong enough to carry an additional 300/400 lbs. also what would be the best fasteners to use for this type of joist? Thank you in advance.

@Bill B., thank you for your answer, however I am still a bit confused or maybe I am just not using the correct terminology.  So to make it clearer, the property that I am interested in is listed under one address, so for example 123 Main St.  However there are 70 individual owners of the dwellings at that address.  Of the 70 one is listed as the owner of the 6+ acres and common areas that those dwellings sit on.  So with that being said why wouldn't they care if the value of that property is sustained?  By the same token why wouldn't the owner of a high rise condo be concerned with the value of the building, or a developer who is still on record as the owner of a parcel of land being concerned with the value of their property.  To put it in more of a perspective for you Trump Towers in New York is owned by Donald Trump and the Trump Organization.  It wouldn't make sense to me for someone to own land or a building and not care if the value were being either maintained or increased.  

@Bill B., if that were the case why then do developers form HOAs. The goal is to preserve the value of your property, as the owner you still own either the building or land that was developed and the HOA is responsible for maintaining that. Properties can over time, be it deferred maintenance or neighborhood decline, become a not so desirable investment for someone, at that point can they not sell their land or building to someone else? That is my question. While I understand that a HOA is technically not supposed to earn income, those who manage the collection of the fees and how they are allocated must earn income, otherwise why would they do it. As well the "owner" of that building or land would also want to see a return on their investment. As you mentioned if the fees collected are not covering the expenses of the property, then the "owner" would have to balance the deficit. At some point, be it an individual owner or a trust or whatever entity that owns the land or building, may want to move on from that investment. How can that be transferred to a new owner?

@Wayne Brooks, well for one I think that it is not being properly managed, as mentioned there are several foreclosures on the properties within the HOA. The fees are pretty high imo for such a small association only about 70 properties. From my research the fees go towards hot air heat (from what I read about the property is the association pays for oil), water, snow, trash and grounds maintenance. So they should be getting up to $35k a month just from fees, but if residents are not paying their mortgages I find it hard to believe that they are paying the $500 a month association fee. It is my guess they are probably taking a loss each year trying to maintain this property. I was just wondering if there was a way to "buy" a property that is fun like this. I know in some cases because the homeowners don't actually own the land that their property is on, that maybe the land could be sold and a new HOA created to manage it. In the case of a condo building like a high rise, the actual building could be sold I am assuming or am I wrong with this?

I was recently going through a list of pre foreclosures and have found several that are in one particular HOA, after further research I found that this particular HOA's fees are pretty high ($500 a month) and I am guessing that if the homeowners are not paying their mortgage, there is a good chance that they are not paying the HOA fee as well. This is an older development (built in '75) and properties that have been updated are currently trading at around $171/Sf. For this area that is a pretty good price even with the high HOA fees. I think there is a good opportunity for value add to this property, so my question is since most HOA's, for the most part also NPO's is it possible to "buy" a HOA, or would the transaction have to be a land purchase and would I have to create a new HOA? How does one go about purchasing a property like this one? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

@Michael Grigorashenko. If I understand your question you want to know if the bank can call due the full price that you agreed to pay or not. So the bank is only entitled to the amount of the unpaid mortgage that they have. So for example if you agreed to pay $150k for the property and there is an underlying mortgage that will stay in place of $100k the bank is only entitled to the $100k.

Hi, I have a wholesaler who texted me a deal for a 57 property portfolio, so I said sure I'll take a look at it send me an email. He replied I would first need to sign a NDA and show POF before he sent any more info. This would be my first time working with a wholesaler so my question is if this is normal? I know that this is a larger deal so some amount of confidentiality would be required but he is unwilling to offer any information outside of the asking price and a cap rate. Just sounds a little fishy to me.