All Forum Posts by: Scott Williams

Thank you for the referral William. I left them a message.

Does anyone know of a licensed plumber who does the "actual" work in Brooklyn? All plumbers I've ever hired send their "apprentices" and never seem to gt their hands dirty anymore. Great racket. In Texas, and I imagine most other places if you call a plumber the licensed guy does the work or has to be onsite.

Anyway, sorry for my tone, I have a sealed hot water heater where the pilot light keeps going out after about 5 minutes of full burner. No problem firing it back up after about 10 seconds, and the process repeats. There was no problem for years until the Section 8 tenants got their gas cut off. Once the gas company turned it back on after 4 days this problem occurred.

Any help is appreciated as always. (I added the Section 8 bit because people are always asking what they can be like.)

Scott

Thanks for the great ideas everyone. I really appreciate it.

Hello all. I obtained a 3 unit building in Brooklyn and the carpet on the common stairwell stairs have worn through. It lasted about 10 years.  I wanted to see if any of you have some good alternatives to re-carpeting the whole stairwell. The only quote I got so far was for $1200 and I'm trying to see if I can reduce that significantly. The stairs are standard wood stairs and the wood is stained from food traffic. There are two sets of flights 3 story building)

Any thoughts are appreciated. 

Scott

Your question should have been, does anyone have any good stories with Section 8 tenants in NYC. My response should answer your question. :-)

I used to be an insurance adjuster and you need to look at that policy VERY carefully. Regular policies do not cover damages caused by "rising water" (i.e. water coming from the ground up, which is tidal surge or flooding). This is what flood insurance is for. So you may think you're covered for rental income loss, but likely are not covered if the house is wiped out by flood. I would call your insurance claims department to double check this. Do no call the agent as most of them don't know how to read the actual policy properly, they just sell them. You don't want to buy this thinking you're covered and you're actually not because it's just a matter of time before Long Island gets wiped out again. Good luck with the purchase.

Hi @Account Closed. I'm also here in Brooklyn and have a 3 family. However, I lived in Austin for 13 years and still rent out my SFR. I have a great reference for handyman services. He also has real estate contacts down there. Happy to talk sometime if you like.

I'd say join the military and use the living allowance to purchase your first home. Then when you get out you can use a VA loan to finance up to 100% of another property. Then FHA to move to the next home. I realize this may not be the most direct path and may involve a little more investment than the average investor :-)

This just happened to be my path. :-)

Good luck in your path. It is great that you're starting so early.

@Michael Upshur, I've gone through the eviction process in Brooklyn. It's a joy :-(  I'm happy to share any info I have with you and anyone else who would like it. Just PM me.

@Devan Mcclish Thank you for the education Devan. Could you tell us what your mailing expenses are for the month with 2-3k mailers? Thanks again and great work. Your focus on building relationships with your network is my biggest takeaway.