All Forum Posts by: Les Jean-Pierre

I have a few contacts that might help. I grew up close to Rosedale.

Good numbers. I was on the site and decided to look at my discussions and saw you updated it. The store is rented. Came close on two Mexican restaurants but they fell through for one reason or another. But, will have a coffee shop. They made the store nice(on their dime). I have questions about their business acumen though. My units are rented but one tenant is month to month and under market. I will be getting rid of her shortly.

You can get the info online as stated before. But, I would get a title search done by a title company and a lawyer to help. Also, given that it is an unsafe building, do you have a contractor lined up? You don't need a realtor for a cash offer. 

I have a Honeywell that my HVAC guy installed. It has thermometers that you place in the tenant's apartment and then you have the thermostat elsewhere. I like it because I can adjust things via the web or an app. I don't know where you can buy it. Will try to get the name.

I think in NYC you have to put them in storage for a certain amount of time or leave in the unit. It is a crazy scenario. I keep trying to find the law on it but can't. What did L/T lawyer you used say?

My regrets on your father.  For the mixed use,  assuming no major defects, I would do a cosmetic upgrade for the store, paint it white and maybe put in floor tiles. Commercial tenants usually do their own improvements. Are there good commercial brokers in the area? You might want to look up what is for rent on loopnet to get an idea of comps.

For the three family that is not fully occupied, I would handle one floor at a time and fix up the vacant ones. The other property seems stable.

Since you work a lot, I would get lock boxes for each property so contractors can get in easily.  I would hang out the carrot to them by saying I have 9  units and I am looking for good people so if you do a good job here, more work down the road. Then, start getting referrals and use yelp for service providers. Also, get as much automated as possible, like paying bills, Meter readings, etc.

Good luck, I took over my family's property 5 years ago(my dad is still alive) and it was nuts at first. I was running back and forth trying to figure out everything. Then I realized I was wasting everyone's time and concentrated on getting good help. But, you have to learn so just realize hopefully in a year, you will be in a better place.

Or atleast the MF owners on BP....

Good thread. My family owns a place in East Bed-Stuy that should check all the boxes for yellow letters. The building has been in the family for almost 40 years. We consistently get letters from one company. This has been the case for the last five years or so. We transferred the property to an llc and now I get some handwritten letters since I was the organizer. We get a call every nice in a while. Not that we would ever sell in a non traditional manner but I guess the guys who have been sending consistently over the years would be the obvious choice. 

I own a condo in Harlem and over the years I have gotten a letter or two for my place. No where as close as in Brooklyn.

@Jackie Schnell. Hey, I will inbox you. There might be some solutions.

I would just pay for a professional exterminator myself, bill him, then tell him to get rid of the dog.