All Forum Posts by: Allan Szlafrok

@Jeremy M Danan Thank you its paid off so far. best of luck to you as well.

This came out today as well

https://jerseydigs.com/drive-thru-starbucks-3-7-bennett-street-jersey-city-west-side/?fbclid=IwAR1bDMcahW0BnTihZ4BrPg3Rve_dS_iJIacAUX1_KZdGvpit9YaAKFHhfJY

A Starbucks on the West Side off of 440. The West Side is seeing a lot development recently and this is another good sign for the area.

@Jeremy M Danan I dont think JC is done yet. The West Side has a ton of development going on and you have easy transit access from the West Side Light Rail station (although that station is down for repairs for 9 months). Im focusing on that area as the next to really blow up. There are still decent deals to be had in Bergen-Laffayette as well.

@John Bianco I’m very interested as to what happens to properties in NJ now. A lot of towns already have similar ordinances on the books but no one was rushing to buy 3 and 4 caps with virtually no cash flow. Most people I know wouldn’t touch a stabilized building under a 7 cap. All I know is if NYC buyers start coming into the big urban centers in NJ and start buying and compressing cap rates it’ll be very good for me and other NJ investors. Alternatively a lot of people will look towards the southeast and southwest. Of course that’s if they can get their money out and that’s a big if. That being said I think some of those people will decide they’d rather invest closer to home after doing their due diligence and realizing they can make attractive returns only a 20 minute train ride away in JC. So I think Jersey will definitely get a little bump out of this but other states will get an even bigger bump.

@Viet Hoang For materials and labor ask for a detailed line by line breakdown of what they are doing and how much they are charging. Then you can figure out how much they are up charging for materials and you can see if you have any wiggle room on that. Also you will be able to compare apples to apples as to what they are charging for different aspects of the job. Make sure each contractor is including every aspect of the job in their quote. That 30k quote may not include a lot of what you asked for. And whoever you hire remember not to pay it all up front but in draws as progress is made.

@Navid A. It all depends on your bank. In general smaller community banks and credit unions will be more open to listening to your sort of situation. I would start by talking to some loan officers there. I’m a full time investor and those kind of banks are my go to for a refi.

@Mohamed Farih If you occupy the other unit of the property I don’t believe you have to register it with rent control. Owner occupied houses under 4 units are not subject to rent control as far as I know. You may still have to register as a landlord with the city clerk but that’s easy the forms are online. Make sure you have a lease in place and that there are no code enforcement violations on the property. See if the previous owner did adequate upkeep on the property and address any health and safety issues if there are any. Other than that just address the issues as they come up. Congratulations on your purchase!

I grew up in Brooklyn and lived i Brooklyn from the 80's until about 10 years ago and still have family there. Red Hook was an area no one would have suspected would ever increase in value. Then again you can say that about almost all of Brooklyn. There is still some industrial space there but its super expensive now and people only buy it to tear it down and condo it. Its a fun hip neighborhood but like most of Brooklyn really hard to get a deal.

Consider going to some local meetups. Theres a good one in Brooklyn on July 16 at Velvet in Williamsburg. Check meetup.com they have a bunch more.

@Kathleen McCabe Not sure if youve been keeping up with the news but NY just passed very strict rent control regulations which will likely cause prices on commercial buildings to fall very fast and very hard. Definitely want to wait this out for a bit until the dust settles. And a sit is you could wait a year to evict a non paying tenant in NYC. I would recommend looking at Jersey City NJ as some parts of it are as nice as NYC and there is no rent control on buildings under 4 units. Landlord tennat laws are still skewed for the tenant but its not nearly as bad as NYC. Plus you have easy access to NYC and can be in midtown in about 20 minutes. I've been investing there for a while and have had real solid cash flow plus a ton of appreciation the last few years. I think thats the place to look if you want access to the NYC metro area.