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All Forum Posts by: Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass

Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass has started 14 posts and replied 180 times.

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322
Originally posted by @Bryan O.:

Absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for sharing. I closed on a 3-plex almost a year ago, found heavy termites, then it flooded, then both of my tenants broke lease to leave. The next time rough stuff happens, all you'll be able to do is giggle because it will seem so petty  ;)

Great post, great information, great job  :)

 WOW... all my issues seem completely trivial compared to that... that's insane!

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322
Originally posted by @JD Martin:

Actually a quick look your numbers don't appear so bad, since you are eating up some of the rental profit by living in one of the units; if that were not the case, it appears you'd have at/close to $1000 cash flow per month. And you learned a lot, and yes, renting for $300/month in NYC is pretty nice figures. 

Yep, my unit would rent for $1,500-$1,600 so I'd have about $900-1,000 in cash flow.  But once I actually move out (in about 2 years), rents will have increased so I'll have little more than that :-)

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322

@Kevin Wilson Depends on where you're at and where you're tryna go :-)

But generally I'd say make sure you read the fine print, don't trust anyone's word w/o verifying (get it in writing), don't be so eager for your first deal that you do a bad one, and don't give up!

:-) 

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322
Originally posted by @Danielle Golden-Banks:

Wow and thanks for sharing, sounds like a great experience and as a newbie i agree i love reading stories like this so thank you for taking the time out....

I am looking to build my team, even though he didnt follow your orders he seemed like he was most definitely on top of it who was the mortgage you were working with?

 I'll message you his info :-)

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322
Originally posted by @Andy Gross:

Great job @Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass ! Lots of great lessons learned and shared. 

My biggest questions is whether or not a pre-closing inspection would have discovered the issues with the water meters and the funky wiring? I would have never thought to check personally, but it's going to be on my checklist for looking at 3-4 unit properties.

 Ahhhhhhhh Andy you called me out!  Another mistake I don't know how I happened to skip mentioning.... I actually didn't get an inspection :-/  I KNOW I KNOW I can hear people gasping and moaning now!  This is why:

I met with the seller's lawyer and the seller to sign the contract (I didn't have a lawyer at that point either :-/).  My full intention was to have them add an inspection contingency so I could get it inspected after we signed.  I had paid $500 for a last minute inspection on one of the condos that didn't close, so I def didn't want to shell out a ton of money for an inspection if the seller could potentially still go and sign a contract with someone else.  But the attorney basically said that's not normally how its done, you get an inspection done before you sign the contract.  In my head I was thinking "I don't care how its 'normally' done, we should be able to add anything we want to the contract!"  But we would have left the office with no contract signed for me to go get an inspection first, and I admit, I was really thirsty for a deal.  Also, the property was in the process of getting a new Certificate of Occupancy, and the seller and his attorney told me that the city does a very stringent and thorough check of EVERYTHING before issuing a new CofO.  So everything would be good and signed off on by a 3rd party.... so I went ahead a signed :-/

I actually spoke to someone at DEP (water) about the new CofO and who should be responsible if they were supposed to sign off on the meter, etc, and he admitted they (DEP's inspector) would be responsible.... 

LESSON (again lol):  Even though the city can be bureaucratic and make you jump through stupid hoops, doesn't mean all their employees will check everything they are supposed to before signing off.

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322
Originally posted by @Shadonna N.:

@Nicole (Dunlap) Pendergrass also who is the lender that does not look at tax returns?

I don't know if they don't look at taxes for every loan product they offer, but mine was their FHA and my loan is with Rushmore Loan Management Services (based out of Florida). I can also give you my broker's info if you want :-)

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322

@Shadonna N., Yes def please do reach out to me if you decide to come North of Baltimore, that would be great!  And "trust but verify" was another one of those things I heard a million times during seminars/conferences and I still ended up doing more trusting than verifying :-/ #neveragain 

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322

Thanks @Donald Placide! I'm not planning on refi-ing this one, but that's my plan if I happen to purchase more units with hard/private money.  Let's def catch up, I want to hear about Jamaica! 

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322

@Account Closed

I fiiiiinally finished the post!

Post: My First House Hack Unsuccess Story

Nicole (Dunlap) PendergrassPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Bronx, NY
  • Posts 193
  • Votes 322

@Brent Coombs LOL, Thank you!

@Chris Mason Thanks, NY is crazy!  (side note: I used to live in Kew Gardens for a few years.... I miss that neighborhood!)