All Forum Posts by: Mary Schr

Thanks all: my property is on 72nd street between northern and 32nd Avenue.  It’s not too far from the subway (totally walkable).

The upstairs 2 bedroom rents out for $2325 with a parking spot.

The downstairs 1.5 bedroom rents out for $1830 (no parking).

Both units have backyard access.  But my bills right now are about $4600 a month and the rents only pull in $4155.  

It’s a corner oversized lot, two family.  I wish I could convert the garage into a living room because, then, I can charge a little more rent and at least not be paying into the property.

At this point, I’m tired of losing money on the property and would sell it if I could at least sell it for $1.2 mil (was bought for $865,000).  Mortgage has only built in a puny $12000 in equity...I gut renovated both units when I bought it and want to recoup some of the money I put into it...I really don’t know what to do...

Annually it’s been averaging about $3000-$4000.  

Thanks everyone for your help!  Right now I feel like I’m putting money into the property every other month or so.  The rents barely cover the mortgage and taxes and insurance.  

I love the property and I do see signs of rising real estate prices in the area but nothing is happening that fast.  

It’s so hard to tell because this is Queens, NY.  I mean, real estate prices went through the roof (no pun intended) in the last few years so average families became millionaires.  I don’t really have a strategy.  Bottom line: I’m sinking money into the house.  It probably will take time to become profitable but it’s risky...I don’t know how much or if it’ll be profitable.  I’m having a hard time letting go of it because it’s a nice property, it’s a piece of land in a nicer neighborhood in NYC and it’s  the first house I ever owned!

Hi,

Three years ago I bought a two family home in an up and coming part of queens, ny.  The original plan was to live in the two bedroom unit and rent out the one bedroom but circumstances prevailed and I had to rent out both units.  The rents from the units is about .5% of the purchase price; cash flow is almost nothing: the rents cover the mortgage and tax and insurance and that’s about it.  I’ve had to dip into my own funds to do repairs.  

I didn’t know anything about investing in real estate so the fact that the numbers aren’t good is a rookie mistake.  I’m tempted to sell it off but everyone is always telling me that real estate in this part of queens (east Elmhurst/Jackson heights) will get more valuable and I should just hold onto it...I don’t have capital to make improvements or make it bigger.  The only thing that might make the numbers nice is if I somehow constructed a third story apartment but that just sounds insane...

I dunno what to do...

The numbers are:

Purchase: 870,000

Two bedroom apt rent: $2325

One bedroom apt rent: $1835

A quick update: this forum helped me a lot.  I looked at the coop rules and only one-year leases are allowed.  I talked to the coop's management and they said the only way the board would approve her lease (which I just recently filed with them) was if it was a one year lease.   The management told me to make the change on the lease end date to one year, initial it and have her initial it.

She's refusing to answer the phone or email so I am sending the amended lease to her and will ask her to initial and mail to the coop's management company.  

It seems like a better, simpler way out of the three year lease mess...Her lease would now end in a few months and I can move on with my life.  Here's to hoping she initials the change with little fight.

I gave it some thought and spoke to my husband.  We are going to ask her to pay the fines for the illegal renovation.  We will also start documenting things she’s done.  I may hire a property manager to collect rent and help document what she’s up to (I need a tenacious one!).  My lease for my rental (that I live in) is up in January.  In December, I will give her a notice to vacate.  In January, I will start eviction proceedings with a lawyer for the intent of personal habitation.  I’ll have all the other stuff documented so I can tell the judge that part of the issue is how difficult she has been to deal with.

And finally, it is a good idea to find out how long of a lease the coop board even allows because her three year lease may not even be allowed by the coop.