Insights on property being underwater

[Johnson Joseph]

I have a family member that is an owner-occupant of a duplex and has a mortgage that is underwater. They have one tenant, they are keeping up with the payments and would like to keep the property.

• - The property is located in Irvington, NJ
• - Duplex home and can potentially be converted to a triplex
• - The mortgage balance is $265K
• - Current Property value is $150K - $175K
• - Balance - $115K - $90K
• - Rent is below market rate

What are some creative ways to add value to the property to potentially increase equity? Would it make sense to make a large lump sum mortgage payment, complete some renovation work or thoughts about converting to triplex but that would increase the taxes on the property and maybe a process to get that done?

Any ideas or insights would be great or if anyone knows or been through a similar situation this would be very helpful!

Thank you